Sevenfold: Creation and the Arcobaleno
by Trilies
Summary: The story of how the very existence of the world was formed, drawing with it the birth of those divine forces of nature- the Arcobaleno- who in turn brought the gods to life, and their struggle to contain Chaos from bringing about the end of everything. :: Part 1 of Sevenfold, a god AU
1. The First Myth

Before light, and earth, and life, there was Void.

Then, from the void, came forth Creation-

the Matriarch, ruler and leader and founder,

the Mother, keeper and caretaker,

the Maiden, daughter eternal.

They were one, and she was three, and with this trinity was the beginning of everything.

While free from the Void, her dark hair still carried its shade, and in her deep blue eyes were the oceans and skies which would soon come into being- but not yet, for all was still newly born, as she herself was. Creation could only be one part of reality, still unfinished, still not whole.

So still bound by Void, she thrust her hands into its depths- two, four, six- and tugged out that and those which would form existence at her side. Chaos and Desire, Ingenuity and Catalyst, Loyalty and Suffering- these were what would form the world and life. Not divine, but more than that- the foundation for divine and mundane both. Fully formed and brimming with their power, so were the Arcobaleno created at the start of all things.

Resplendent with the energy of existence, they traveled and tore through the still forming world, their energy and deeds creating many of the first gods that shared of their nature, and crafting the world to their liking from oceans whose depths would never be explored to mountains which threatened to brush the Void. Each god, each place, carries a story of its own, and to tell those is for another time. Only one deserves mention in this tale- Light and Labor, the first son, born from Chaos and Creation's steps with golden strands and eyes like sunbaked earth.

As existence came together, piece by piece, there was one amongst their number who cared not for it. To a being of chaos, composed of entropy and anarchy, such stability clawed at him. Overcome by his very nature, he began to ear at the fabric of it all, wind and water and earth tearing each other apart. To allow him unchecked would be nothing but a ruin of all that had been born, a return to the Void which had just been filled, and so that which was left of the sky became awash with color as the Arcobaleno gathered:

Orange, for the tripartite, Creation,

Red, for the fighter, Catalyst,

Purple, for the merchant, Desire,

Indigo, for the wounded, Suffering,

Blue, for the mirrored pair, Loyalty,

Green, for the scholar, Ingenuity.

Together, they talked, and thought, and together they crafted a means with which to stop the strongest amongst their ranks before he could undo the very fabric of their new fledgling world to its core.

Yet only one was guaranteed to keep up with such chaos, and it was the first son which he had bore- Light to chase him, Labor to bind him, and it was thus that the Scholar enlisted his help. Chasing that which he could claim as his father on a steed of burning flame, he pursued him for many days and nights across the night sky and through the ragged edges that had already seen Chaos' touch. Finally, he was near enough, and he lashed out with his favored whip, ensnaring him so that he might not escape elsewhere.

With Chaos secured to one place, it was the Merchant's turn next. They knew better than all the others what rolled throughout Chaos, the want of him to send reality a-scatter, and as they distracted and tempted him, they nearly fell into line with it themself for not the arrival of the Mirrored Pair. She with her midnight blue hair and him with his river clear eyes, together they grappled and forced him down into a form. There was a consequence for this, chaos burning across her face and skin, and, for all her partner cried out, she of the pair only grit her teeth and held on all the harder.

With the Fighter and the Wounded at her side, the Maiden approached their struggling enraged kin and in her hands was a cloth spun from the Void which had once held them all. Chaos screamed when his wounded brother wrapped it about him, and shook when the Fighter secured it, but he fell still and silent when the Matriarch touched him. So, too, did the rest of the Arcobaleno, stepping away at her presence.

Gently, she cradled his head in one sweet palm, and her lips met his forehead.

"One day you will tear this world and all it knows asunder," she said, "but much must happen until then. Restrain yourself, my love, and reign in smaller ways so that other things might thrive."

Bound by Void, changed by Catalyst, and held with a loyal promise, Chaos nodded, and headed her words. Weary from battle and chase, the Arcobaleno retreated to their domains, and, undisturbed, the world brought itself together again held together by the threads of their existence.

* * *

 **Author's Note:** And so this is the beginning of  Sevenfold, my AU series imagining the various KHR characters as gods, spirits, or, in the case of the Arcobaleno, the very foundations of the universe in personified form. "Creation and the Arcobaleno" is the creation myth which starts it all, told in the way that's passed down in universe from person to person... but there are details that aren't known to mortals. Those will be revealed in future chapters.


	2. The Beginning

Nothing.

Nothing was so _much_.

It- they? _she_ \- thought this, and then thought many things, more things than could be told or put together coherently, a cacophonous whirl of _sentience_ which would overwhelm her, if she were something contained, something small, something insignificant... but she wasn't.

She isn't.

Yes, that's right, she thinks- and yes, _thinks_ , occurring, present, not a one-note thing that had happened and would never happen again. She can think now, is something instead of part of the eternal neverending expanse of _nothing_. Yet what is she- they? She cannot fill nothing, cannot fill the void which still wraps itself around her so tightly, envelops her so sweetly, but she feels too engulfing, too _vast_ , complex and entwined and conflicting, to be only one thing.

Void is void is stable, permanent, with nothing shifting or twisting or changing it. It's safe, to curl in it for a while longer, a _something_ with no name yet and no form. With time endless and forgiving, she begins to discover herself, themselves, patiently and carefully. She isn't one, she isn't two, but _three_ somethings, three new existences wound in one. Something bubbles through her, erratic but _good_ , a shift in their existences that is- hot, warm and light, _joy_ , yes, that's what it is, and they wind tighter together, elated.

Nothing is so much, but, together, it is a little less.

Yet there should be more than only her and, for the first time, she looks outside of herself. Nothing still stretches infinitely, more than even her boundless existence can see... but if she simply _is_ , then surely...

Quietly, with purpose, she draws herself together closer, firmer. Nothing has no shape, a formless encompassing _thing_ , but she is not Nothing. She is formless now, but she does not _have_ to be. And so she draws herself together, guides herself, and _reaches_ -

Nothing breaks.

Nothing _shatters_ , and she is not nothing, she is _everything_ , all of it springing into existence, faster and faster and sweeping the stagnancy of nothing away. She is in the brilliance of bright green plants. She is in the jagged sharpness of mountain cliffs. She is in the aching depths of the waters.

She is, she is, she is.

For a while, that is enough.

All of it would be enough, even if she brushed over it with a casual eye, but she doesn't. She takes in every little thing, through breath, through sight, through touch. _Everything_ \- what a concept, what a beautiful and _amazing_ reality, one that she is filled with an endless adoration for. Time is not kept track of as she indulges in simply _being_ and all that now entails. So it is impossible for her to say how long she spends playing with this new bud of a world before she finally looks up...

And she realizes that all she has delighted in is, in so many ways, just as stagnant as the void from which she had escaped.

She breathes, and it is the only thing which moves.

Around her, the world is perfectly still. In truth, she knows that it has only moved up until this point because of her attentions. It's only _become_ because of her, and, somehow, that drains the wonder. Even as she kneels there, surrounded by a myriad of color in the form of dozens of different flowers, she has to admit that this is merely "nothing" but in a different shade. She can pretend all she wants, but that's the truth of the matter.

Earth and water can be put together, but it all drifts inch by inch from itself the second she turns her back. Nothing binds it.

Greenery and beasts alike live, but it is a weak existence. They're _there_ , background noise to her burning life. True, there is no ache to them, but there is no need in them, no want.

Perhaps most importantly of all... It is simply static. No stimulus exists outside herself. None of that which she called "life", although created solely from her hands, invents things separate from her own ideas.

And that, she thinks, is the problem. Even being of three minds, she can only surprise herself for so long. Not to mention...

She reaches down and cradles a flower in her palm, the stem sliding so neatly inbetween two of her fingers. So pliable, like so much else in this half-finished world, and its softness tickles at her skin. "It could be an entertaining past time for a while longer," she muses to herself, star-spread black petals brushing the inside of her wrist. "Except that wouldn't solve the problem in the long term, would it? Ignoring all of this doesn't make it go away. In the end, all of this is as unchanging as it was before. But..." She considers how the light splays across the petals, the way it reveals the veins which compose it. "If I can exist, then surely others can, as well."

 _Surely_. It's a thought that, even as she is looking downwards at earth and grass, she is looking upwards toward the sky. Void still stretches, domineering, over everything that is not connected to solid earth. It is nothing. There should _be_ nothing for her. Yet of her eyes, _hers_ are the widest, and the most hopeful, and she sees so much which is not and yet which could be. She sees possibilities.

Most of all, she sees their hair, dark as origin, winding gently up and up and up into it all again. She sees it, and she feels the thrumming of other things _longing_. Yet there is no push, like her hands shattering the world awake. No power is behind the hum, only _potential_.

"Surely," she whispers, and stands up.

How does one contain something so massive and encompassing into such a small form as to cusp a flower so delicately? Impossible; she is all and eveywhere and everything, in the end. Yet for a second, in that space, she is tall with shoulders squared for work, and her hair feathers about her shoulders- and then she is all, and reality, and reaching once again.

Past void's veil, she can feel them. She can feel them because they're _her_ , too, in a way, or at least there are the specks deep within her being. (And what can be called _specks_ in an existence that spans as deep and far as hers does?) There is that spark which bore her, the bonds which tied her together, her want of seeing so much more, that painful ache of loneliness, the idea to create at all...

And, swirling it all together...

She presses herself against the void, much how she had first pressed her hand against it once and shattered it. Not so easy this time- there's not even a splinter. Only a ripple shudders at her touch, shivering, wind faintly disrupting the water of a still lake. Beyond, she can feel the others, her kin, stir. It's the creation of the world all over again, flowers turning towards her and mountains springing up in the wake of her footsteps. Yet with them, it's

different.

All the things she creates are empty, yet her kin are anything but. In her, a different spark aches, sighs out different messages to her that she must decipher. _I want to change. I want to_ ** _want_** _. I want to suffer. I want to bind. I want to think. I want discord._ The messages beat in her, a rhythm as steady as the pulse of her heart, her core, and her breath would come out shivering if she had breath to give.

Her touch presses in harder. Harder still. Harder, stronger, deeper, and-

She dips into the void.

 _Oh_ , how it calls to her. Its first daughter, its only child, breaking all things that were and turning all that is on its head, yet still loved. It calls to her to return, to fall asleep wrapped in nothingness and disperse once more. For just a split moment... it's tempting. Creation is as empty as the void; why not just rest instead? There's no guarantee that this will work, or that the existence of others will make creation worth living.

But she is not alone. She is herself, and there are other pieces of her: gripping tightly on reality so that she does not fall into enticing oblivion, wrapping firmly around herself in a child's hope. "Not yet," she murmurs to herself, and repeats it again, another voice that is firmer and more certain. "Not yet."

The Void won't have her back just yet.

It won't have these others anymore, either, and she feels something wrapping about her void-entrenched touch. It takes all she is to pull it out, but she is _Creation_ , the beginning of all, and nothing can stop her now. It- _they_ , plural, a pair- stumble out while still holding onto her tightly. They are not like herself, three bound in one, but they are bound regardless, and she can sense the Void quiver. Something vital has been lost for it... but it's her gain.

Behind her, she can feel the world draw tight, no longer slowly drifting apart while she ignores it. Good- she can't pay it any mind right now as she thrusts a part of herself into the void once more. No time at all is wasted before she's being grasped again, and, while in this form she has no lips to do so with, some part of her smiles. That which is gripping her is so ravenous for the world that is before it, a feeling she knows too well, and she pulls it from the Void as if it were water, the transition is so smooth. Is it because of who she pulled out, or because of who she has in her hold right now?

In the end, it doesn't really matter. She lets her new companion- her new _kin_ float to the side, and, again, dives her touch in. Again, and again, and again, she works on pulling them out.

The one whose form burns-stings-bites at her, painful.

The one whose touch send lightning crackling along her, thoughts sparking along.

The one who twists in her grip, never the same for long, fire as much as ice as much as stars.

And, finally... One that hums in her grip, energy building up, waiting to be unleashed- that one, when she tugs it forth from the void, makes everything _snap_ , much as she had done once upon a time, and in the pit of her being she can tell that everything has changed once more. She can tell that like she can tell that the void has closed itself off to her, having suffered too much loss from those she has released from its embrace, but that's alright.

All she wants, now she has.

It has not been an endeavor without sacrifice, however. How tired she is, left to drift back down to her newborn world and kin. Yet there is not a bit of her that regrets what she's done. As she lets herself be drawn back to earth, she watches the shapeless soft forms of her kin fall with her. Much like her own existence, they too are spread out through the world and a part of its very foundations. She can feel the changes they have brought even now.

The world is better for it.

Being born is tiring too, she knows. It had been hard to tell, when it was only herself who existed and not even the world, but she supposes it must take a very long while to gather into a solid form. Perhaps they will have difficulty, her new kin, but... she'll just have to trust that they will become as she is: something that is both one and many things.

Although, just judging by how they had felt when she had pulled them all out... She doubts that they are anywhere close to her strange triplicate existence. Perhaps, this way, it is for the better that it will take some time for them to settle. That's time she can use to introduce herself properly. Quietly, she smiles to herself.

She can't wait.

* * *

It's easy to pull herself together.

Easy as the ocean joined in crushing waves, easy as birds of the air joining for life, easy as bones to flesh to blood working in tandem. She's not made of any of that, no, but she can still draw herself into a solid form- a solid _representation_ \- as simple as anything can be. And as she does it...

There's a mirror before her. No, not a mirror- her double, her partner, and as she forms, so does he. His eyes, brilliant blue. His hair, wheat gold. She can tell that he's not an exact copy of her immediately, because she shapes into existence longer hair that brushes against her shoulders whereas his stays short, and yet... In sync, perfectly aligned, they form together. As if they were always meant for it, she and him lace their fingers and then look to the rest of the world.

Both of them are in a sprawling field, wind rustling through the grass gently, and, far off in the distance, feeling almost as much as seeing, there is a mountain whose point reaches up desperately to the sky. Yet their surroundings are almost unimportant in a way, especially when compared to the beings directly around them.

It's... difficult to describe, how pure primordial energy looks like, twisting and gathering, simultaneously a part of the world and yet so _other_ that it can't quite belong. Not purified like this, anyway. All she can describe is how she _feels_ , minuscule little parts of herself being tugged as if caught on spider silk. Somehow, as certain of it as she's certain of the ground beneath her feet, she thinks her counterpart feels exactly the same.

They're connected. All of them.

With their existence solidified, akin to a single rock starting a landside, the others soon quickly follow suit. Fascinated, she watches and feels and hears each new life decide upon itself.

Nearest to her and him- for a given of what _near_ even is with their existences as they are- comes into being someone whose very presence makes her teeth ache. Even as two pairs of eyes watch him, as his skin forms, so too do a myriad of scars warping it before they seem to disappear. Seem to- something deep in her says they're there still, jagged painful things, and that the person with a messy flop of purple hair will always be feeling them from now to eternity.

Besides him, there's someone more pleasant, more _wanted_ , and it takes only a second for her to realize that this is something inherent to the petite figure developing just as much as suffering is to the one between them. Yet knowing the source does not diminish the effect, even as the figure- _warps_. Changes, twists, still so strongly connected to the frightening unknowable void, still so strange. Yet in the blink of an eye, there they are, an individual with deep purple hair fluttering into place along their shoulders, and glimmering silver eyes surveying all of them.

By the time she can tear her eyes away to the next, he's already settled himself, collected as you please, dark eyes glimmering in fascination. Or... maybe it's not how long it took her to look away, but that he was formed even before then. Something in her seems to _click_ as their eyes meet, like how existence came to her. Sharp, sudden, and changing. He's already smiling, secrets tucked away in the expression like how his long dark braid is wrapped loosely around his shoulders.

Giving him attention seems to be exactly what he wants. Maybe it's petty, but it's for that reason that she looks to the next. He's only partially born, the faintest outlines of a figure in his mess of essence. His eyes are the clearest things, brilliant burning green as he flexes and stretches out his fingers. A hunger much like that of the one in indigo burns in his gaze as he picks apart himself, learning every little thing before he lets it exist solid and defined.

It's going to take him forever before he joins the rest of them, she figures, exasperated, so she finally looks to the last... and has to stop. He- and, much like the others, she can tell what he is deep in the pit of her- hasn't even _bothered_ to compose a shape for himself. It _is_ there... she thinks. Chaos twists about him, a swirling mist to obscure anything else, tearing apart grass and making it grow and so much else in equal measure, with no apparent thought or care to whatever really happens. But to let things stay the same...

Is he an antithesis to what she is? To what she is together with her double, her partner? She thinks that, and yet, at the same time, she knows that's not true. Not entirely. Just like all the others gathered here in this plain, there is a part of him within her.

Whatever he is to her, he's not focused on her, or her partner, or their kin. That much, she can tell. With herself completely settled, and everyone in close pursuit if not done yet, she looks to what has his attention so much.

She loves her.

Before her mind has even taken in the appearance of the person who has been so patiently waiting for them, she knows _that_ above all else. The rest- what she looks like- doesn't really matter. She _loves_ her, has perhaps loved her before she could even feel the world beneath her feet and in her core. Perhaps her thoughts, her feelings, her love can all be seen so plainly, because the one who has been waiting for them smiles. In that smile, a simple message.

 _I love you too._

In her hand, her partner's fingers wind all the tighter around hers. Whatever the others might think- the guy with the scars, or the one smiling- she can't tell. Her eyes are locked on the woman waiting for them.

Besides her, a reflection sending her emotions back to her, she can tell he feels as she does. In this, they are united. Perhaps all of them gathered here together are.

"I'm so glad you're all here... You're everything I could have hoped for."

Her voice is everything- _literally_ everything, somehow making her think of the smallest things like specks of dirt which press against her knees to her own massive sprawling existence that covers every little bit of this world. Ah. She knows, now, who this person is to her. When they were all tangled up in each other, drowning in the Void... It was this voice which called them.

No wonder she loved her upon first sight.

"I hope it wasn't too difficult to take a form like this," she continues, the smiling curve of her lips pointing to the small brilliant orange mark on her cheek. Her gaze is settled on the guy in green, _finally_ catching up to the rest of them, and the chaotic mess who hasn't bothered. Endless amusement is abound in their savior's stare, and it's enough to make _her_ smirk a little too as if it's contagious. Ridiculous fools, both of them. "But... we're together now, like this. So I know we'll manage." There's a secret in those words, something that's not being said... but maybe it doesn't need to be.

There's a connection, unseen but there like the air gently brushing against their bodies, that is twined between all of them. If even one manages, then, surely, the others will as well.

And that one is already before them.

"What are we?" asks the green one, sharp and to the point, perfectly in time with indigo's demand of, "I want to know what we are." Both of them pause, sizing one another up, his eyes sharp and curious towards something else now that he's gotten satisfied by investigating his own body, and their head quirked sharply to one side. When their savior speaks, however, both of them look back to her.

"This world." The laugh which follows after is beautiful; she thinks she could listen to it all day. "Or... parts of it." Gently, she rises, and all their eyes track her every movement. "I've had so long to figure out that answer, so that... I can tell you that much with confidence."

And the first people she lays her hands upon... are the partnered pair of them who formed first. From the corner of her eye, she can see her partner crack a grin up at the one before them, but his fingers still have not loosened their grip on her. They're there together as she murmurs their name softly. "Loyalty. You're the reason this world has come together, why dirt sticks and beasts connect." Her lips are warm and sweet against her forehead, and then his. "Thank you."

Gratitude. Shouldn't they be the ones giving that to her? Before she can say as much, her loyal partner grins widely and jabs a thumb at himself. "You can always count on us, hey!"

Well, that was an easy way to snap out of it, and she rolls her eyes, not even having to think about the action. "You say that now," she mutters, socking him firmly in the side as their beloved passes them by with a giggle. "But you're such an arrogant idiot, to give that kind of promise when we didn't even know what we were more than a few seconds ago!" As he grumbles and curls in on himself from the force of her hit, she turns away from her partner in Loyalty, and watches as their savior approaches the next in their group.

Or maybe, Loyalty thinks as the petite figure eagerly reaches up to twine their arms around their beloved savior's neck, it's the other way around. There's no protest at the action, at least, only more laughter, and there's an air of smugness around the little figure as she wraps her arms around them in return. "Desire," she says, loving and longing, "because there is no point in things keeping together if there is not a unified _want_ to stay together. The want to know, the want to live, the want to change... You give it all meaning."

The smugness intensifies. "Of course I do," they purr, easing up their grip as their eyes shine now instead a deep blue to match their beloved's own gaze. It follows her movements all the way to the next who has her attention.

She can't even say anything before he's reaching up, fingers curling around the ones which had gone down to cup his face. The look on his face is so- young seems inappropriate to say here, because aren't they all young? Aren't they all still newly created? Yet his seems younger, more immature as he furrows his brows miserably at her. " _Why_?" he asks, and they all know what he means. There can't be a single straggling crumb of doubt. It's clear in the way the one in red rubs at his fingers, or the newly minted Desire twists their mouth as if tasting blood on their tongue. Loyalty both grind their teeth together.

Why be something that's the embodiment of pain and misery?

From where Loyalty sits, it's so difficult to see her expression, but her thumb glides slowly across his cheek, and somehow that says so much in itself. "If nothing were to change," she says softly, "if all were well with nothing disrupting it, then we would be nothing more than the Void once more. There would be no difference in any existence. Loneliness, pain, misery... It is not kind, but these things must exist. If there _is_ any kindness to your role... It is that for those and that which will share of you, at least they will not truly be alone in their hurt. Remember that." Leaning in, her lips touch his forehead. "And remember that you are made of more than that, Suffering."

Maybe it reassures him. Maybe it doesn't. All that's obvious is that he eases up beneath her touch, and she sweeps her fingers through his messy hair before leaving Suffering behind.

The one in red is still rubbing his hands a little as she approaches him, but his smile doesn't show any pain. "So much change, so quickly," he says, voice quietly approving, and he laughs alongside her. There's a joke here that Loyalty doesn't think she's getting, and her other half appears to be just as oblivious.

"Do you disapprove?" In response to their beloved's teasing, he only chuckles into a long trail of red fabric.

"Would such a thing even be possible, with what I am being so entwined with this?"

"This and other things," she hums, and, yes, Loyalty is absolutely lost, but neither of the two talking right now seem to be paying much mind to any of the others gathered. This is something for themselves. "Catalyst." Another smile, and from this angle, Loyalty can see her eyes sparkling in amusement. "It says all it needs to, doesn't it?"

"A million words in a thousand ones," he agrees, and ducks his head again as she moves on with a giggle.

Even as she's moving onto him, the one in green is musing aloud to himself. "Loyalty, Desire, Suffering, and Catalyst... Clearly fundamental aspects of this version of reality, of this universe, however, that leaves two of us as unknown components, although it is only considered 'unknown' to our fellow newly created massively powered entities, as we ourselves each know on a visceral level what we as individuals are, it is simply that we do not have a word to function as a label..."

She raises an eyebrow, but seems just as amused and fond and loving as she has been when she's looked at the rest of them gathered here. "Shall I leave you to theorizing?"

Immediately, carelessly, he swats his hand through the air. "Oh, no. There's so much new information to delve into and organize and consider. While I won't accept it all the time... Having one of the largest of mysteries solved right now would certainly free up my time, wouldn't it?"

Chuckling, she catches his hand, and that conceited analyzing look on his face vanishes in favor of something a little more flummoxed as he stares at their entwined fingers. "Ingenuity." She squeezes his hand in hers in time with that single word. "Throughout everything else, when there exist thoughts such as yours which wish to know more, which wish to change things with that knowledge, it is from you that those thinkers will draw from. I would tell you to never stop, but..." Her grin is impish. "You wouldn't anyway, would you?"

Getting a hold of himself, he huffs out an amused sound of his own. "It goes without saying." This time, his sharp gaze goes to her, and lingers. "You... You're the base of it all, aren't you?"

There's no answer. She only smiles and moves on to the final member of their ensemble.

The shifting changing mass before them _slows_ somehow, calms at her approach, and for just a moment... There is the outline of a figure there, a _smile_.

"Chaos," he says.

It's a response that makes absolutely _no_ sense, both halves of Loyalty wrinkling their brows, at least until more of her laughter rings out. "It's not as dramatic when you do it," she says, scolding tone nowhere near convincing, and the reaction throughout the rest of their group is an immediate ripple. A cacophonous mess of noise erupts from them all, from Catalyst's laughter to Ingenuity's dismissive "So I see who among us was born with bad taste", Desire's aggravation to Suffering's complaints.

Loyalty keeps their words simple. "You obnoxious show-off," one half groans, and her partner shoots, "How long did you know, hey!?"

No answer, just that implication of a smirk, and there has never been anyone Loyalty has wanted to kick more. By all means, they've just been born into the world, but that's the truth. A kick, straight into whatever is most solid of him. Before this can be vocalized, their laughing love is hushing them all with soft touches, and returning to where she had first sat while waiting for them. "Well, he's definitely a show off," she says breezily, smiling wide, "but it's a part of his nature as much as anything else, I suppose."

"What about your nature?" asks Suffering, and their noise goes quiet. In the depths of all of them, they know what she is. They know their connection to her, where the strength of their love comes from... but none of them had asked just yet for confirmation.

Her smile says she knows this, and was just waiting for the first curious soul.

"Creation," she says, simply.

That would be enough. That _is_ enough, telling all of them everything they need to know. But she isn't satisfied with that, it seems, because she continues to speak. "But what I am... is only a small part of the whole. It's not who I am, not entirely. I... am Luce."

And the world... shifts. Or maybe it's not the world, but their _perception_ of it, of _her_ , and she's different now. Or maybe she's the same. It's hard to comprehend, even for beings like them. After a second, however, one half of Loyalty thinks she's figured it out. The person before them is still Creation, of that there is no doubt, but it's not _Luce_. Her hair is still dark as the Void, her eyes still that deep welcoming blue, a mark on her cheek... But her hair is longer, falling feather-like down her back and over her shoulders, and she holds herself so much more playfully than the hints which had been in Luce's confident frame.

"And Aria," she says, and winks, and there she is. There's the last of Creation, so similar to the two before her but especially Luce, only smaller, younger, smiling and wide eyed and innocent.

"Yuni, as well." She tilts her head, beaming, and Loyalty knows that both of them would tear anyone or anything apart to keep her and Aria and Luce safe. "It's a little difficult... But you all understand, don't you?" That, too, is a given, and she ducks her head, smiling. "Who you are... is something only you can decide. But this world is so young, and we are, too, aren't we? So..." Her hands spread out, fingers parting to show them the whole world that is theirs to learn and love. "You don't have to stay here. Go and find out who you are."

There's little holding them back now, and, in a heartbeat, Desire and Catalyst are gone, whisked away by their own interest and curiosity. Then goes Ingenuity, followed by Suffering so desperate not to be left behind. Loyalty, their hands still intertwined, turns to go as well... But they both look back.

Chaos is lingering there before Yuni, massive and dangerous before such a tiny figure, but she isn't afraid. There's only that smile on her face as she meets his gaze, and then, tenderly, she reaches up into him, a child's loving embrace, and he returns it.

It's not meant for them to really see, although they doubt either would care. Loyalty turns, and goes.

* * *

"So, have the two of you come up with something for yourself?"

Two things feel natural in this world.

The first is being in a place like this: the rock-scattered coast where earth and sea meet, waves crashing into them, spray scattering through the air, and gorgeous fat clouds heavy with rain and dark with thunder covering the sky completely. It's all connected, the water from the ocean to the skies to the earth. Loyalty. Bonds. Things that are bound together, tied, facilitating the cycle which helps make this newborn world grow. With their feet following the curves and points of each rock, they traverse together.

And that is the second thing. _They_ are the second thing, together. So long as she can look to the side and see him- sun kissed hair, eyes blue as the sky that is hidden from them... So long as he can look to the side and see _her_ , with hair as deep a shade as the ocean and eyes warm like blood... Then things are as they should be. Oh, she doesn't doubt that there would still be a connection between them, even if they were on opposite ends of this world. A grain of sand doesn't stop being sand just because you take it away from the beach it began at.

But this is better.

Aria can tell as well. She's smiling as she looks upon her loyal mirrored pair, lips quirked, eyes soft, and she traverses the rocks down to them with easy skips and hops. "Just a gut feeling, of course," she says, smacking him on the back with a laugh, and he's too solid to do much more than shake a little bit at the impact. There's a grin on his lips, too, directed to both women. "But am I wrong?"

"Lal Mirch!" he announces proudly, only to pause a split second before hastily adding, "Not me, her. We've been talking about it since everyone parted. It only felt right that we would name each other. Right?"

Being named is a strange thing, but only in how new it is. 'Lal Mirch' settles in her, water filling up the cracks and paths down a mountainside, and she shakes her head at him. "Once the idea came to Colonello, it wouldn't leave him alone, and thus he wouldn't leave _me_ alone. Even when I forced him down onto the ground with my foot between his shoulder blades."

"Hey!" he protests, even as Aria laughs into her hand.

"Lal Mirch and Colonello..." She takes in the two of them, the way they draw close, the way she reflects him, the way the sea reflects the sky, and smile at what she sees. That alone spreads a warmth throughout Lal's chest. "It suits you both perfectly. So how do you like the world as it is so far?"

The world as it is... Together, they look out to the horizon, how the water disappears around the curve of the planet, the clouds chasing after them all. Above them, the rain finally begins to fall, weighing down their hair and dancing over their skin.

"It's still a little bit of a mess," Lal muses, and doesn't bat an eye as a familiar set of fingers slide inbetween hers.

"But I think it'll look great put together," Colonello finishes, all easy confidence.

* * *

"Mammon."

Along the shallows of a river, water flowing over their petite frame and a salamander skittering across their breast, the being of Desire tilts their head back to look at Luce and smiles. The air is pale here, washed out by the sky and thin layer of mist which ghosts along the water's surface. Because of this, Mammon looks all the more brilliant there, purple hair and the marks curving along their cheeks, eyes bright, plush lips pink. Luce's feet sink softly into the dirt as she follows its slope down into the waters, kneeling down into them until Mammon can drape shamelessly across her lap. They wear their smugness as daringly as flowers their color, and outright purr when Luce laughs softly.

"I didn't even say anything!"

"I could feel it in you." Mammon twists in their place, fingers fluttering up in the middle of her chest and pressing in right over her throbbing heart. Every rise of breath, they follow and rise with her body. "You wanted to know if I'd decided, if I'd tell you." Tilting their head to the side, they hum thoughtfully, curling in closer, and are rewarded with Luce's arm wrapping loosely around their waist. "I suppose I should have kept it a mystery for a little longer... Keep you wanting for a little longer." At the finger sliding under their chin, they allow Luce to tilt their head back. Her smile shines with teasing- or is that the mist?

"Perhaps you wanted to give the game away yourself." Her lips flutter against theirs, brief and chaste, and Mammon closes their eyes with a smirk. In them, desire is woven in every strand of hair, hums beneath every inch of skin, and there is _nothing_ they do not want. However, Luce's attention, her presence... They want _that_ especially.

For that, they try to snatch another kiss, and she allows it with a giggle. "Maybe," they admit flippantly. "I want what I want."

"What you want is everything," she points out, laughing and her fingers twirling deep violet strands around them. "Incorrigible."

"What is that? A new word?"

"A new word, made with you in mind," she confirms, voice so singsong it could rival the birds, and it's clearly a tease, clearly meant to jerk them around, but the idea delights them. A word made just with them in mind- perfect. It's not the first time this has happened, no, it's just not something they'll ever tire of. To show their _appreciation_ , they lean up close, kisses covering every little piece of skin that's been made slick from the mist. Luce welcomes it, her fingers so warm as she smooths them out along Mammon's spine. When the two of them come to a stop, Luce is splayed back along the earth and water, sighing, and Mammon is curled along her side, head tucked in against her neck. That much is enough; there's no need to rush. In the quiet washed out paleness of the river, they tell her things- not secrets, simply _things_.

She is Creation- anything that happens in this world, she likely already knows. They tell her anyway.

"There's a new group of creatures, now... I can feel them, their wants getting more complex, more vast. There's a longing there for more than shelter, and more than food, and even more than just one another. And from that want..."

Mammon smiles.

"I can already feel something churning."

* * *

He breathes, and the air is so clear it stings his lungs, and the chill eats away through him down to what would be bone in any other living creature. It would wrap through them tight, the full weight of the mountain bearing down on them, and they would perish slowly. Not the most painful way to fade away from existence, but agonizing in the time it would take. There's something to be said for slow and steady over immediacy.

It's a 'something' that he summarizes in a long drawn out groan as he crumples down onto Yuni's lap, flopping until he can bury his face against her legs. Snow blankets the ground around them, beautiful but suffocating, and it hurts. No, that's not wrong- hurting is just a natural state, and it would be with him, in him, _him_ , no matter where he could be. Being on a mountain like this, clouds gliding against their bodies as they pass along, seems fitting for the scope that he feels. Disease wracks itself through a predator, every bite cracking teeth and filling its mouth with blood. Elsewhere, starvation claims something else entirely, leaving it gasping on the ground and vulnerable to whatever spies it first.

A heart breaks.

"There's always _something_ ," he whines to Yuni, indulging in her patient pats to his hair. "I know it's what I _am_ , but still!"

"That is the way of things." Her fingers thread through, and in their wake more pain sparks along his scalp. Creation can be as cruel as it is kind. That, too, is the way of things. He knows this, and he wouldn't trade it for anything else in the world. "Things are always happening. Even the things that hurt. Is it that bad?"

Really, it's not. He'll complain, and whine, and he's maybe more than a little envious of creatures like Desire, but in the end... He is as he is. There's a thrill to that edge of pain, a rush of energy at every ache even with those echoes of being dragged down. Yet more than any of that, there's a _connection_ between him and every other thing that suffers as well.

He'll cling to that until his fingers are torn ragged, and long past it, too.

His lack of answer is as good as one, and Yuni laughs again as she ruffles his hair. "Have you decided on a name?" she asks, sparing him a little bit of his dignity by changing the subject, and he rolls onto his back once more. This high up, they can see past even the clouds, into the sky, into the void. Another breath, and he can feel his chest be cleaned out, sweeter than any fire.

Of course he has.

"Skull." It's solid on his tongue, a weight that forms in his mouth and leaves imprints- on people as much as the world. "That's good, right?"

Yuni's smile shines. "Of course it is."

* * *

Howling wind, crackling lightning, pounding rain- it's all a game to him, one he indulges her in gladly. His steps are as light and quick as air as he guides her along, flitting from every bit of debris that's been torn up from the earth, and Aria thinks she's only seen his eyes this bright when he first came into the world formed. When electricity strikes him, humming through his braid and shining in his teeth, all he does is chuckle softly. Perhaps it's the rain that keeps him weighed down at all; she knows better than to think it's their linked hands.

"Fon, huh?" she muses aloud, the storm no obstacle to her voice even at the height of its strength. While she can follow him easily, Aria doubts it's with the kind of easy grace he's demonstrating as he takes her back to earth. "It's nice and simple, for a nice and simple guy."

That makes him laugh louder, his hand brought up curled to his mouth. "Oh, am I nice?" he asks, voice still shaking a little bit and making her shake her head in amusement. "Well, that's certainly one way to describe me, I suppose."

The storm is subsiding, now, wind softening and rain easing, and the mud welcomes their feet with relief. Teasing, she flicks his braid back around his shoulders and static dances up her fingers. "Nice can mean a lot of things," she says, rubbing her fingertips together to watch the sparks leap. "Or, it will, anyway. It all depends on who's saying it."

"Who's saying it…" Fon echoes the words, gaze distant and thoughtful. Aria knows he's not looking off into the horizon- at least, not exactly. He's looking farther, and deeper. She can tell what he's feeling, what he's thinking about, if only for this moment. Every single one of their number has been feeling it from the beginning, tugs to their cores, things that have drawn them even if just a moment to the tiny outcroppings of new life. Changed life- changed from their solidified existence in the universe.

Change…. Catalyst. Of course it draws his attention.

Just like it's drawn loyalty, and suffering, and desire. Just like she's certain it's drawn ingenuity, and chaos.

That it's drawn her should go without question. But then, tied so strongly into the tiniest bits of existence, how else can she be?

Something in the world happens, something that lights up his dark eyes, and Fon smiles again. A different energy than that which had bubbled through him just a few moments ago, by all means. It makes his eyes dark, and brings an edge of anticipation to his lips. What's going exactly through his mind is a mystery, one he only offers a hint of- "It'll be interesting to see just how many voices change that word and so many others, and how many times. Who knows?" Tilting his head to the side, braid swaying, he lets his eyes drift shut. Now, the storm has moved on entirely.

"Perhaps even our voices will change."

* * *

"Well, it's an interesting theory," her ingenious beloved admits as they sit in the smoldering remains of a forest, lightning tapped and still bright hot. It's not a fact which has stopped the wildlife any. Short fat hooved creatures shove their way through wet flora and dried dead brush alike without stop, and brilliantly colored birds flit from the branches. What he's drawn her attention to right now, however, as she sits daintily on his lap, is a creature tinier than all of those.

Eight legged with just as many eyes, its movements are distinctly unique compared to most of the other shows of life in the world. Every step, whether sharp and snapping or slow and dragging, carries with it a predatory consideration. Such a statement is true even now, as it skillfully constructs a web.

In many ways, it reminds Yuni of the one whose lap she is sitting in. His eyes are deep, absorbed in what he's focused on, and there's that same particular slowness in how he leans close and stretches out his fingers. "Of course," he continues, "the only way to prove or disprove it is to continue forward. The problem with that is, considering our very natures and connections to reality, being that we are an intrinsic _part_ of it, the result may take a considerable amount of time to discover. Now, observing the creatures born of our creation…. It is _much_ easier to keep track of whatever changes emerge… Or, of much more fascinating interest to me…"

This whole time, she's been steadily tilting her head back and up to watch him as he's spoken, but now he taps it down so that she's looking at the spider again. "Watch." Web spun, it lays in hiding, long legs tentatively plucking at its own creation. "It's mimicking the vibration of prey caught…. The idea being that another of its kin will venture closer until it can capture that instead… Predator becomes prey."

It's not the conclusion which has his interest, obviously, but the direction the route had taken. "It's amazing," she agrees, not only because it's what he wants to hear but because it's true. Power and speed isn't enough to sate the lives which are coming into their newborn world. Tactics and cleverness- those are developing too. The proof is before them. No…. That's wrong. She's sitting on the proof that this sort of thing was inevitable. "But, you know, you didn't answer my question."

" _Well_ , Fon's line of thought is likely spurred on by the progression of that particular line of beasts, which I do have to admit are showing a more notable and intriguing preference for inventive thinking-"

"That's not what I mean!" she says, giggling and thumping back against him. "I mean your name. You got sidetracked."

"...Ah." Fingers loosely curled, he brushes the heel of his palm against his temple. "Right. Verde. Now, ignoring such a trifling matter, if you'll look closer…"

* * *

Luce stands before him, all of existence in her long flowing tail, and creation laces every bit of her smile, her steps. From the very beginning, he's been drawn to her, and he doesn't see any reason to hold back now. Especially now, actually. He slips inbetween her fingers, curls around her back, all to her laughter.

"Someone's in a good mood," she teases, iridescent and ethereal herself. Is he responsible for the way she comes undone? How she's shifting back to her true form, body stretching and warping, limbs too long, hair rippling with color in its deep blackness? Hard to say. Each of them knows that they have bits and pieces of one another in their own essences. Loyalty within desire, catalysts and ingenuity twined tight, on and on. However, it is her that perhaps is most intune to all of them, whether as a young maiden or a glowing mother or this glorious matriarch who came  
before every single one of them. That's the key of it, isn't it? Before Chaos, before Ingenuity, Loyalty and Desire and Suffering and Catalyst, there was her.

So, as much as he'd like to take credit for the way she shifts against him, pure Creation and pure Chaos wound tight in each other, well. It's truly up in the air which of them is affecting the other the most. All he can be certain are of his own words, sly and playful. "Well, _you,_ are here, Luce. Help make it an even better one."

They _burn_ together, glittering gold and amber alight. Fire pales in comparison to their brilliance, flickering along the earth, reality twisting under the impressions of their feet. Sand flies through the air, kicked upwards by the pair of them, and winds together- grains of gold into _grains_ of gold, a field of wheat swaying in time with them. Impressive as it might be, it's only a mild show of their power, really. Haven't they both been contributing so much to this minuscule world by this point already?

There's something much stranger that's arisen from their playful courting.

He almost doesn't realize what's happened, for a moment. To be Chaos is to be ever changing, a tumultuous existence that no other creature can truly comprehend, and loss can be considered a part of that. And yet… It's not quite loss, not quite himself, and not quite like anything else in the rest of existence thus far. His and Luce's wildfire dance suddenly twirls to a stop, and she sees it before he does: a unique spark of existence crackling and popping at the hems of their own essences, more hers than his. Delicately, so unlike the carefree motions she had been indulging with him a second before, she takes shape again with deep blue eyes forming and her hair draping over one shoulder. As she does, she draws in their unexpected creation all the closer and, in time, they form together while he stays wary and curious by her back.

When she finishes, so does the product of their union: a handsome youth with surprised brown eyes and hair as messy a gold as the fields.


	3. Gods

Skull is the first one to break the silence. "Okay, but what _is_ it?"

For the past few moments, a group of immensely powerful cosmic powers have surrounded him with blatant stares, but he hasn't been particularly insulted about it, just uneasy. Now? Uh, yeah. "I actually do, in fact, have a name," he offers cautiously, although most of the emotions focusing on him seem to range mostly from curiosity to bewilderment. "I'm also not an _it_. Just... to put that out there."

No one actually seems to _care_ up until Aria's fingers flick into place along his shoulders from behind. "Play nice! He's the first born child from any of us. That's worth something, don't you think?"

"It's definitely something," Lal Mirch says, mouth still twisted from incredulity, her gaze flicking from him to Aria to Chaos to him again. She doesn't seem to know what to make of it all. "But really, the two of you? Who could have seen that coming?" From the side, Mammon lazily raises up one hand.

Colonello leans over a little, surprise and confusion finally melting away into faint amusement as he snickers. "He has your hair, hey," he says teasingly to his unnamed companion, eyes glittering. It's obviously meant as a jab but instead of reacting like one might expect, the swirling entity of Chao- does _something_ , many things, all hard to describe, but one thing is clear: he's preening. The only response to that is to laugh, apparently, since Colonello does so.

While the two of them exchange jabs, held back only Lal's exasperation, Verde finally takes the first step forward and leers over him with too sharp eyes. The skin on the back of his everything crawls, just a little. "Intriguing," he says, his fascination still wrapped around himself and shining in his eyes. "Continuation of a species is by far not an unknown thing, with anything of an organic nature reproducing and ensuring its lineage is carried on. However, by our very nature, there is no need for us to do such an act. In fact, up to this point, it was difficult to imagine any of us reproducing in the manner commonly done by animals of both terrestrial, aquatic, and aerial types, and flora seemed a more probable answer... Lal Mirch, while focusing on the wrong thing, certainly voiced the appropriate phrase. Who could have seen this coming indeed?"

This time, Fon is the one to raise his hand, and Mammon lowers theirs while looking distinctly offended.

However, he isn't really focusing on either of them. All he's focusing on is leaning back uncertainly from Verde's probing eyes. Only when there's crackle of heat at his back does the inquiring creature pause. An uncomfortable moment passes, tension thick in the air, as Verde and the creature which can now call itself a father eye one another, leaving the new individual stuck between them. The click of Luce's tongue is what snaps through it neatly, and both cosmic entities ease up.

"Now now, boys," Aria says breezily, brushing aside what surely must be a children's squabble in Creation's view, "let's not start up _already_. Dino deserves at least a decent first impression."

Lal exchanges a glance with Colonello. "Well, that's a problem, because I'm not sure any of us are decent at all."

"What's that mean, hey!?"

Yuni laughs at Colonello's indignant response, and Dino laughs along with her, their brightness entwined. For all that he's apparently his father's son, Dino has to admit that his connection to Creation in undeniable and impenetrable. He'd wonder if the rest of those gathered here notice, but he doesn't really have to. Mammon isn't making any secret of staring at him, apparently memorizing every detail of him down to the bone. Not far off, while they focus mainly on their fellow kin, Colonello and Lal's gazes keep flicking to him, on and off. Similar things are among the various members assembled, and each has their own way of showing it.

That's something to take pride in, he supposes. At least his mother is well loved, whatever face she wears.

"Well, I'll accept less than decent too," he says, shrugging lightly and smiling easily. "I don't think I could change any of you if I wanted to, either." But... That begs a different question. Carefully, assessing, he glances back at - Luce, now- and weighs his question in his head before allowing it out his mouth. "For starters... I'd have to know _what_ you are."

Such a simple statement, but it makes them all pause simultaneously. Well, besides the forever twisting nature of Chaos, but even there's an idle consideration in him, so much as Dino can tell. He guesses that, for all that they know what they are on an individual level... Their connection as a group has never been questioned before. Well. That would have required someone to question it, huh?

Chaos is already starting to drift away for warmer fields, clearly bored and disinterested by such conversations, but Luce casually reaches back to loop a part of his essence inbetween her fingers. Not the kind of thing which could _truly_ keep him if he _really_ wanted to leave, but it stays his attention. With her other hand, she taps her cheek thoughtfully and glances to Fon. His shrug is utterly fluid, not matching the amused interest in his gaze. "I suppose we _should_ find a way to differentiate ourselves from everything else," he muses, chin tilting downwards ever so slightly. "As distinct as we are from one another... We _do_ come from the same source, and were once tangled together..." Smiling slyly, he glances over to some of the others, the pair of Loyalty and Mammon in particular. "Well, I suppose we're not too unlike each other in the end."

"You're revolting," Mammon says bluntly, a contrast to the way Lal rolls her eyes and Colonello snickers.

It's Verde who breaks the silence. "Arcobaleno." Rubbing at his chin, he gives a self satisfied smirk. "Yes, I think that should do nicely. We are the Arcobaleno."

"Wait-" Skull jerks his head from side to side as he looks at each of them, Dino included, blinking in bewilderment. "So is that it? Are we really just going to let _him_ name us?"

"I have a feeling I should be insulted, but as it's coming from Skull, I don't think I will be."

"Hey!"

Fon chuckles into his sleeve again. "Well, I suppose it _is_ fitting," he confesses.

"It's in his nature," Yuri says quietly, smiling as all eyes turn to her. "And who better to invent a name than him?" Verde's smugness really doesn't need anymore fuel, but her words clearly provide it. However, Aria continues, clearly not done. "But then, if we're the Arcobaleno, Verde..." And her hand rests in Dino's brilliant gold locks, a smile in her voice. "What can Dino possibly be?"

Aaaaaaaand he's back to being stared at again. Fantastic. Dino tries to not let it bother him too much, smile only a little lopsided as he weathers it out patiently. At least Verde is the only one truly intense; the others of the Arcobaleno only seem some degree of interested instead of _scrutinizing_. This must be what bugs feel like under the eyes of a bird.

"I'm not _sure_ ," Verde finally admits, eyes narrowed and his fingers rubbing at his chin thoughtfully. "As I was saying, for the creatures created after the birth of this world, they have a _reason_ to breed more of themselves. Their lives are finite, mortal- if they do not breed, then their species will die out. In the time we have existed, many of them have already perished, in fact. However, there's no need for any of us to do such a thing. I mean, after all-" Stepping back, he sweeps an arm out to gesture to, well- _everything_. "That's not a problem for us. And I don't _feel_ the sort of connection which binds us Arcobaleno together."

"So it seems like you don't know everything after all," Chaos say smoothly. "What a surprise."

 _This_ , in contrast to Skull's words, seems to be the insult that sticks. Verde narrows his eyes at the other, lips thin... before he pauses. "The rest of us might not have a connection," he says thoughtfully, glancing down at Dino, "but what of the ones who _made_ him? In fact... What does one get when you mix Chaos and Creation?"

"Let me guess," Lal says dully, "you're going to find out."

"And none of you are interested?"

After eyeing Fon, Mammon raises their hand again. "I _suppose_ I am." Skull opens his mouth, clearly to express confusion, but all they do is give him a dead eyed stare, and he slowly closes it again.

And _that_ is how Dino finds himself wandering throughout the world with Verde trailing along behind him, the subject of the Arcobaleno's new pet project.

"Just continue acting in the way that most feels natural to you," Verde says with a dismissive shooing gesture as they make their way through the world, Aria along for the ride and looking far too amused. "I'll take a passive observation role for the time being."

Dino quirks his lips up in a lopsided smirk as he glances to Aria. "Easy for him to say," he chuckles, even as he tries to do just that. What feels natural to him? In such an enormous world, still coming together and figuring itself out, full of oblivious animals that are learning themselves... Well. He's a bit on his own for this one. Still, Dino supposes, someone had to be the first of whatever he is. Might as well be him. So he lets himself wander, trying to find what most makes sense, what most _fits_... And, in the end, that seems to be an enormous stretch of plain lands, more shrubs and dirt than anything else. Something about it... Yeah. He's sure of it. It's in the light sweeping across every plateau and beating hot against the earth. Something else tugs at him, too, and he turns his head just in time to watch as a herd of beasts race across the land.

They're enormous, four legged and lightning fast, hooves beating the hard earth harder, and Dino can't help but keep his eyes completely on them. Something in him calls towards the creatures with their smooth hides and flowing manes. As he watches, it becomes apparent that they feel something similar, their pace slowing as they curve around back to their small group. At the head is a beautiful example of the species: his hair dark, hide mostly a pale white with dark gray spreading across its hindquarters like blood slowly dissolving through water. Dino touches the side of its face gently, and smiles.

From behind him, he can hear Verde mutter, "So is he the personification of horses, then...?"

"I don't think so," Yuni says quietly, Luce's laughter echoing somewhere among her words.

"Definitely not," Dino agrees, grinning, patting the horse a few more times before he starts to pass along through the rest of the herd. A pitch black horse catches his attention, hooves hard as diamonds and its body sturdily broad. It's a mare, one how nuzzles into his palm when he reaches out to her, and it's her that he helps Luce up onto. Verde seems a little leery as Dino guides a tan horse with kinky hair towards him, but still gets on it anyway.

"Is there a _purpose_ to this...?"

"You said to do what's natural!" Dino calls over his shoulder breezily as he mounts the first horse, adjusting his legs and sending it off with only a pat.

On top of the horse, everything makes _sense_. It's as if he's come into the world a second time, his father's burning existence still thrumming in his veins and his mother's heart reverberating through him, only now it's wind whipping through his hair and light burning from his skin. Yet in a way that his first birth wasn't, he knows what he is, now. When he looks behind him, his mother is riding like she was always meant to and Verde is clinging with equal parts suspicion and burning curiosity, but neither of them give off the same feeling of _knowing_ as goes through him. The only way he thinks he can possibly get them to understand is to _show_ them.

So he does. Subtly, at first, although he thinks Luce knows immediately. He races across the land, showing them the new creatures that have been patiently working towards existence in this new world. They aren't like the Arcobaleno, nor are they like whatever Dino himself is. They are plentiful but finite in their existence, small but still pebbles rippling through the tide of the universe, and so very mortal... And yet, every time they pass by a group of these fragile creatures, Dino feels a throb in his heart, a connection almost as powerful as that to his parents.

Gathering berries. Clumsily carving sticks into tools, or homes. Picking up a child and moving on to the next part of fertile land.

So much _effort_ , so much painful work, all to continue living and protect those they love. It's not easy, he can _feel_ that, and even as they kneel upon the ground to gather or prick their fingers against wood, something in their souls whispers to him. He can hear every single one, a chorus song that rides on the wind alongside his racing steeds. _I wish to find good food. I hope this shelter will hold._ None of them know who it is that they cry, beg, and plead to- for all they know, their voices simply get lost in the wind.

But they don't. He can hear them.

His steeds, his physical connections to this world, truly are more fast than anything, and Dino can't tell if it's because they've naturally always been that way or because his attention makes them transcend their earthbound nature. Either way, the world has only dealt with a single passing of the sun since he first took off on his journey, and night lays heavy over all soon enough. Dismounting, he spares only a glance to the Arcobaleno who have been accompanying him before he steps away. It's a tiny little camp, with frail bodies pressing close to one another under messy pelts in order to keep warm. It's hard for them to stay safe; he can feel that in his bones. So, carefully, he walks among their sleeping bodies before, at last, he makes his decision and kneels besides some of them in particular.

The first reminds him of his mother in some way. Not in physical appearance, all comforting Creation confined to a simple form, but in how she feels. Experience is in the wrinkles that have begun to sag at her skin, crinkling the corners of her eyes. Even in her rest, the weight of many seems to lay across her shoulders. As gently as he's able, he brushes tangled brown hair away from her ears. What he has to tell her is of utmost importance, and so there must be no obstacles in his way. Not even the smallest ones.

And with that done, he whispers a gift to her.

The gift is: his offering to her, and her kin, and every frail mortal existence that walks this earth and will walk it in the times ahead. It is an offering of speed, and strength, and companionship. An offering of food, even, if such things come to that, so long as his own are treated well and honored.

What images swirl in her mind at his words, knowledge in its purest form passed on, he can't say. He can only give this gift, tell her of his offering. How she receives it is precious and known only to her. With the deed done, his words spoken, Dino shifts and focuses on the next.

He's a young boy, mismatched eyes hidden behind closed eyelids, dark hair a mess as it falls around sun-kissed skin. Yes, Dino thinks he'll do. In this, Verde's presence he thinks is useful. _Ingenuity_ \- and it is that which he thinks will spur on so much, which will keep his presence thriving for a good long while. The exact ways? Well, he doesn't think he's smart enough for that, but he doesn't need to be. All he needs to know are truths, and all he needs to do is pass such things on.

Plants can be sown. Soil is fertile. All life, not just that with a mouth and throat, thrives with the existence of water so close to it.

From there, well, he's sure that this race will prosper. They have the knowledge, now, and all that must be done is to put it to use. That much, he's sure of.

Satisfaction blooms in his chest as he pulls away from the mortals. Or maybe that's not the right word. It's something more fulfilling than satisfaction. Contentment, he thinks instead. Yes, that's right. This is how things are. This is how he is, _what_ he is, and it must show in his confident stride as he returns to the herd where Luce and Verde await- so much more secure now that he knows his purpose.

Verde's expression isn't as conniving or overbearingly investigative as before. Instead, the Arcobaleno is lost in thought as he stares off towards the mortals, hand curled at his chin. Only when Dino finally pulls himself back up onto his steed does he speak. "It's a symbiotic relationship... I think I see now. Luce and I, we _are_ , but an existence such as yours... Perhaps it could be more akin to _overseeing_."

"Uh," says Dino, silently amazed that something can both simultaneously make sense and absolutely none.

Running her fingers down gently along the ear of the steed he allowed her, Luce seems to have no trouble understanding her fellow Arcobaleno. She smiles to Dino, an expression that makes his heart swell, and the curl of her fingers going through that dark mane feels as though it's going through his. "You guide people in the way of a star illuminating a dark sky," she says softly, "and are there with every effort they undertake. Light and Labor... I think that suits you nicely."

"Not just Light and Labor," Verde interrupts, self satisfied as always. His words are definitive and final.

"You're a god."

* * *

There it is again- that trembling tension of a world about to snap, the spider's web of reality shaking violently under the weight of something bearing down too hard against it. It's an _almost_ , a _nearly there_ , and Fon breathes in the strain of it all eagerly. The first time, he hadn't been prepared, hadn't realized what such a sensation could mean. Now, however, he does, and he flickers through existence before taking form quietly... right behind Skull.

"Hello," he says serenely, and gives his best innocent smile as Skull jolts forward with a wheeze so guttural he's surprised that the other's throat doesn't collapse in on itself.

Scrambling up and twisting around, his fellow Arcobaleno boggles at him before hunching up defensively and spreading his arms out as if such meager width can hide the twisting whirlwind of collective pain behind him. Skull's bodily representation isn't nearly large enough to manage that, but Fon supposes it's amusing that he tries. "Fon! What are you doing here!?"

"I simply got curious about what it was you were doing," he answers, which is honest enough. The smile which lays on his face, inconspicuous on a surface level and sly only to those looking for it, answers Skull's furrowed look. "It seems quite interesting, after all." And oh, that's putting it _lightly_. The way that swirling vortex of potential draws Fon like few other things do outside his own existence- and all of them would be his own fellow Arcobaleno, beings such as Mammon and Reborn especially. Honestly, it's for that reason that he's highly interested in what will come out of Dino- the one bore from the combination of the most volatile of existences in reality. The only thing which stays his hand has been the recollection of Chaos' expanding presence, a crackling and burning disaster within itself which had threatened to tear apart everything from Verde's cocky smirk to his toes.

 _That_ kind of power is something he wants to see set off at just the right time, no matter how much it might heat up whatever passes for blood inside his storming core.

Oblivious to what's really going through his head, Skull blinks in surprise at the answer before puffing up immediately. "Well, it _will_ be pretty amazing," he boasts. "Do you know what it is?"

He has a rough idea, in fact, but it's the specifics which intrigue him, so he encourages the other. "Why don't you tell me?" Skull looks all too eager to do just that; it's hardly much of a request.

Standing tall, his chest swells out, and he sweeps an arm out towards the thing which he has concocted. "It's a- whatever Verde called Dino. A god! I mean..." Hand on his hip, he tosses his head to the side and lets his hair flip a little. "Luce and that guy made one just by _accident_. I'm sure if I focused a little, I could make one too."

It's actually quite a sensible leap of logic, and Fon is pleasantly surprised that Skull is the one to have tried it out first. Out of all of their number, he wouldn't have considered the origin of suffering to come up with it. He seems too rash and young to fit the mold. But then, someone had to think it, while Verde is off investigating all other manners of things. Why _not_ him? Leaning a little closer to the forming energy that will soon be its own person, Fon hums. "Is it hard, then?"

"Pfffft. It's _easy_." Yet even as he says it, Skull has his mouth screwed up in the direction of what he's made. "Just... The finishing touches are proving sort of tricky. Just a little bit."

So not _too_ easy. Well, it's for the best. Gods are still strange unknown things, and, for all his reckless desires, Fon knows they should exercise maybe a _little_ bit of caution in such an area. "I see," he says, hiding his smile behind one of his long sleeves. "So you've hit a snag, then."

"A temporary one!" Skull protests, his sulk growing in strength. "I'll figure it out, I'm working on it!"

"Do you know what's giving you trouble?" he asks, watching as the deep purple energy twists in on itself.

Besides him, Skull taps his foot and paces, impatient and frustrated. "I _don't_ know! I just need it to take a shape and stick, but every time I try to, you know, make it do that, it just-" His hands flap through the air. "It's like it's _fighting_ me! Me! I'm the one who's _creating_ it, so I don't get what this thing's problem could be-" Even as Skull grumbles and rants, Fon reaches out curiously to the mass with his fingertips-

Everything explodes in a whirlwind of pain.

When the stars behind his eyes stop popping, Fon finds himself a good mile from where he'd first been standing, gouges left in the earth from where he'd held his ground. Half that distance from him, on his right, Skull has been flung through at least three trees. Ignoring his fellow Arcobaleno's bewildered yelling as he scrambles out from the mess, Fon looks straight to where the vortex of energy _had_ been. The distance is no obstacle to him.

Standing there among the rocks and dirt, body drawn tense and eyes viciously bright, is a boy who could almost be called Fon's double. There are differences, of course. His hair is considerably shorter, no braid swinging through the air, and his eyes are a glimmering silver instead of suffocating black. Yet in everything else, from the shape of those eyes to the curve of his jaw... He's a perfect mimic.

Okay, well, the expression isn't Fon's- an imperious sneer before he suddenly twists on his heel and bounds away into the wilderness- but that's fine. In fact, it's a lot more interesting outcome than he ever could have imagined.

"Whups," he says, in no way apologetic at all, and smiles at the flabbergasted look on Skull's face as his kin stumbles into place besides him.

It takes a moment for Skull to find and utilize his voice again. "What was _that_?!" he squawks, flinging his hands at the now empty spot where the boy stood not a few minutes prior.

"That," Fon answers simply, still smiling, "appears to have been the god you were making."

"But-!" Skull looks from the spot to him in rapid succession, distinctly distressed. "He looked like _you_!"

"He did." He can't even hide how pleased he is about that. "But I didn't feel any connection to him like Creation and Chaos spoke of. I suppose it's merely a superficial connection." Skull's expression says he'd rather there be _no_ connection between the god he made and Fon, but it's too late now. What's done has been done, so they should just flow with what's happened. At least, that's how he views it, and he's quick to cheerfully point it out as he moves forward. "It wouldn't be very responsible of us if we just left your newborn god to run about unattended!"

Skull stumbles after him, groaning. "This wasn't supposed to happen...!"

* * *

"So he just helps these creatures?" A tone that is very distinctly _disappointed_ is laced through Chaos' words, and Aria flashes him an amused smile from the side.

She bets he was probably hoping for something a little more... exciting. Yet for a god whose parentage can be directly traced to the personification of chaos, Dino has proven to be a very industrious being. He seems at his happiest surrounded by mortals at work, soothing horses in the field and whispering ideas into napping craftspeople.  
 _Verde_ , at least, she thinks is pretty happy about it all. As it turns out, when this particular type of mortal creature gets industrious, they start getting new ideas, and that keeps Verde's existence thriving with purpose.

"Look on the bright side," she says cheerfully, swatting her hand through him playfully, "have you seen what the humans are making now that they've become more aware of his presence? I have. They're cute, and they add something new to the mix." They're spreading like wildfire, in fact: tiny little constructs, at least one in each town, with trinkets shaped like horses decorating them. Sometimes about as elaborate as a child's toy of sticks, other times carefully carved out of wood with a master's patience, but there, always. It hasn't escaped her notice that their creation makes energy flow, weaving around Dino and making his eyes shine bright.

Arcobaleno like her will exist in the world whether they're acknowledged or not. It is they who make the foundation of all that is. However, as a god, an _overseer_ of his particular dominion, it only makes sense that he would grow stronger when others pay him mind.

Well. She's not lying, in any of her forms, when she says that it makes the world more interesting.

Chaos, in an ironic fit of predictability, doesn't seem entirely won over by the idea, so Aria turns to the two who step out from a nearby river and grins to them. "What do you think, Lal, Colonello?" she asks, as the sky mixes in signal of their gathering- steady blues mixing with brilliant orange and yellow, stretching far and wide.

Lal cracks her neck, looking exasperated. "I think Skull did something stupid."

As if on cue, the very same arrives, ice crystals scattered along his skin and precipitation clinging to the strands of his hair. "Has anyone seen a kid with silver eyes and a bad attitude!?" he blurts out, looking more than a little... frazzled, to say the least. In the clouds that are now reflecting strange purples and pinks, something rumbles through them, and Fon arrives besides him. It's a good thing Mammon is one of the few in their number who's not yet here, doing whatever mysteries they're focused on. They wouldn't be able to stand his all too pleased smile for a single heartbeat.

"Oh, is that who that was?" Aria asks, shaking her head fondly and flicking her fingers through her hair. She'd felt the ripple of something new being born, knew its shape, but she hadn't been paying too much mind to the origin.

"Do you even know how to make a god?" Verde questions, forming from the ozone thick in the air with his expression already skeptical.

Skull bristles, offended. "Well he's obviously running around, so, yeah, I do!"

"I helped," Fon offers casually, and a groan runs through their collective. The only one who doesn't would be Chaos, and even then there's the feeling of eyes rolling although they're not so clearly seen. Aria can't blame any of them, really. Skull and Fon are a dangerous combination with what they represent. Frankly, with Chaos as he is, it's a miracle that Dino has come out so... well adjusted. A good bit of luck, really. Yet suffering and catalyst are not so loose. Really, the only surprising thing to be said about this whole thing is that Skull's fledgling god has run away on him. Down in the slowly growing town, cradled against the slopes of a forested mountain with water not far off, she watches as the mortals move hastily in preparation against the storm. More importantly, what will he be to the people which populate this world who make it more than the basic exchange of hunt and hunted?

It's a question for her to ponder later. Around her, the Arcobaleno are abuzz with conversation- most of it Skull trying to defend his decision to the rest of them. "Nothing horrible has happened yet!"

"Yet is the key word," Colonello says sharply, almost as much as the impact of his hand to the side of Skull's head in a light cuff. "What were you even thinking, hey?"

"I'd ask why _you_ encouraged him," Lal says to Fon, not missing a beat separate from her other half, "but it's pretty obvious."

From her shadow, a voice says smugly, "So I hear Skull and Fon messed up." Mammon steps out, neat as anything, and their plush lips form the most satisfied smirk. There's something a little strange about the petite Arcobaleno, a darkness they wrap too neatly around themself, but Luce doesn't have to think too hard on why that is. Desire was the last to be dragged out from the Void, and that which was clung to strongest. There's a little bit more of it in them than any of the others, something that makes desire monstrous as much as it is intoxicating. Luce, or any other part of herself, can't say it's a bad thing.

It's Yuni who reaches out, lacing her fingers inbetween Mammon's, and smiles at them. "Just a little surprise," she says, a bit kinder than some of the others. "I'm sure it will all work out in the end."

Down in the human settlement, screaming starts up, and Skull perks up.

"I believe that can be called a 'presumption'," Verde sighs, even as he, like everyone else, turns to see what the commotion is about. Just about all of them can guess, judging by the way Skull is hopping a little to look down into the gathering of humans and muttering distressed but incoherent things to himself.

Down in the human settlement, what few mortals have taken to working in the forest- whether to harvest wood, hunt animals, or whatever else- are fleeing from it in a way that Luce has only ever seen when they were being hunted themselves or if fire was ravaging a place. But for all of Verde's presence and how heavy the clouds were with thunder and rain, no lightning has struck anywhere. There is no fire here, not yet. Just humans fleeing from... something, back across the plains and back towards what fragile home they have made for themselves.

It only takes a moment for their threat to reveal himself, and, at the sight, Colonello drawls dryly, "I think I found that god you made, hey."

Luce is more interested in watching the god in question, all her selves stirring with curiosity. As much as he wears Fon's face, it's certainly Skull's presence that surrounds him. Only he could say better, take that suffering in his mouth and discern each individual bit of it by taste, but Luce knows what she's wrought by bringing the others into this world. She knows their touches and the weight of their existences.

"He's chasing them out of the forest," Mammon says lazily, leaning comfortably against Lal Mirch's steady frame. Their eyes are hidden now, unlike at the start of the world, but it's clear to see that they are focused right on Skull's young god like everyone else. "That's what he wants."

"But _why_!?" Skull bemoans, flinging his arms out towards where the nameless god is prowling the outskirts of the forest. He whirls to Fon, missing the way silver flickers in his direction. "Is this your fault too? I don't have anything to do with forests! I wasn't even-"

In one smooth movement, Fon sweeps his foot out to knock Skull off of his feet at the same time he brings an arm to block a foot slamming straight towards his face.

Skull's young god uses it to push off of him, flipping into a landing some distance from the gathered Arcobaleno and drawing himself up proudly. In his hands, he's crafted some manner of weapons from branches: strong and straight with handles protruding from one end each. They're rudimentary, but Aria imagines they get the job done. At least, in this god's hands if nothing else, for he certainly holds no fear or uncertainty in his vicious smirk. Or, to be more exact, at Fon. "So you ended up coming to me... That saves me the effort."

" _What is he DOING_!?" Skull whispers, scrambling to his feet so that he can duck behind Lal and Colonello, wide eyed and mildly horrified. "Does he know who he's trying to pick a fight with!?"

"He knows exactly," Mammon says. "That's the whole point."

If anyone would know, it would be Mammon, and yet three of their number still stare at the new god in bewilderment. Luce doesn't, nor do any other aspects of Creation, and Chaos is focused right on Fon... who, in turn, is focused on their little runaway god, wearing a deceiving smile on his face. "Hello, Hibari Kyoya," he greets quietly.

Being named- and he _is_ newly named, Yuni can feel the blossom of creation falling from Fon's lips and weighing on Hibari's body- make the young god bristle. His eyes are sharp as he glares at one of his two parents, vicious as a wolf's maw. Fitting, then, that his next words are, "I'm going to bite you to death, and take care of you once and for all."

Is it the act of being named or his connection to Fon in general that has earned such ire? Difficult to say. However, what's more important in the moment is Colonello's low concerned murmur. "Could he actually kill him?"

To kill an actual personification of reality, of what makes the universe turn... "We're about to find out," says Chaos as the clouds rumble with an incoming storm and Hibari leaps forward-

A rope snaps out from the side, wrapping around one of his weapons and jerking him back straight through the air.

Such unpredicted force has Hibari tumbling head over heels before his feet dig firmly into the earth. His glare immediately goes to find its new target... Dino. The blond flicks his wrist, drawing the rope back to him, and smiles dryly. "I can't say I exactly know what's going on here," he says, "but I'd appreciate if whatever it is could stop right now."

Fon's shoulders droop a little as he drops his fists, no doubt disappointed. However, it seems he's still keenly interested as he watches the pair of gods interact. Hibari doesn't say anything immediately, only cocks his head while staring at the interloping god. Helplessly, Dino looks to the Arcobaleno with his eyebrows raised, a silent inquiry of _no, really, what is going on, I'm completely lost_.

"You," Hibari begins, drawing Dino's attention back, "are the one responsible for _that_." His arm sweeps out, pointing accusingly at the small mortal settlement. Dino blinks.

"I mean... I _did_ encourage them to settle down and start cultivating supplies around them instead of constantly going from one place to another, so I guess- "

There's no need for him to say anything else, at least according to Hibari. That much is obvious as he lunges towards Dino with a vicious swipe right at his head, which gets ducked from as the blond god scrambles for some distance.

"Hey!? What's your problem?"

Another swipe, another miss, and Hibari seems to be getting annoyed. " _You're_ the reason why the forests are plagued by trespassers and becoming ruined! I'll snap your neck for that."

"Listen, just-" But Hibari isn't letting up in his assault, and Dino has to jerk to the side so that he can grab Hibari's leg to fling him away for even a little respite. "Jeez... You really are pretty feisty, aren't you?" He glances down to the rope in his hand, no doubt taken from the settlement he had been watching over. "This is clearly not going to cut it."

And just like that, something in the air _changes_. At her side, Chaos shifts in active interest as heat all too similar to his own pulses through the air. There's a _heaviness_ to it, affecting even beings such as the Arcobaleno with energy crackling up their arms and into their hair. All of it swirls around Dino as he grips the rope in his hand tightly, where sparks- _embers_ burn and crackle bright. Despite his earlier alarm, casual confidence radiates from Dino and, just as easily, he pulls the rope sharply through the grip of one hand. It's like stone grinding against stone in just the right way, flame blazing as it grinds out from his grip and transforms simple rope into something all the greater. When he snaps his wrist, his new weapon cracks through the air loud as thunder, and he smiles.

"Now let's break you in before you cause anymore trouble."

It's a challenge, made clear and direct. Still leaning against Lal, Mammon purrs quietly in time with the way Hibari's eyes light up. "You have a lot of nerve," are the only words he bothers voicing before he dives back into combat once more. Sky and earth don't shake from the force of their clashing, no ominous rumble with every wipe of leg or the smell of ozone heralding an attack, but that doesn't mean their fight has no impact. In the distance, hundreds of animal eyes watch their champion's vicious assault and the very trees seem to ache for him. Dino's connections are more difficult to see. What strengthens him are the people who have hidden in their fragile homes, no doubt huddling together in tight groups and lacing their fingers together as they have so many times while passing by their little idols to him. Who knows? Perhaps it is exactly that which makes his hair practically glow golden and his eyes burn bright.

Whether it's that or what little age and experience he has over his opponent, there's something interesting to his movements, and it's Fon's curious voice which points it out. "He's leading him further and further away from those mortals..."

Lal Mirch sighs, reluctant as she admits, "I guess there's something to him after all instead of just Luce's tendency to involve herself with every other person in the universe."

Luce smiles, Aria's laugh behind her lips, and Chaos would probably be preening again if he wasn't so interested, much like Fon, in the battle that's raging now through the meadows and alongside the river. Glancing up, she takes in the sky: still mostly cloudy, but with bits of the sky now showing through its gaps, and the brilliance of a rainbow is arching past it all. "Well," Yuni says quietly, hands lacing together, "it's still happening yet. Let's go see how they're faring and how it will end, okay?"

Organizing feral cougars is easier than herding along the Arcobaleno, but she manages after a short spell. All around them, the trees are marked with signs of the gods' battle: lashes where Dino's whip has snapped against it, or broken branches from Hibari's tonfa. As they venture further along, soon, Dino's voice can soon be heard.

"Listen, I understand you have a little bit of- " A grunt, a displeased growl. "- a little bit of _possessiveness_ towards what's apparently your territory." Through the trees, the pair of gods soon become visible. Dino's hands are gripped tightly around his whip, which has wrapped impressively not only around one of Hibari's weapons but also the hand and wrist holding it. The former seems to be making an attempt at persuasion, a trait she thinks is more her speed than the one who fathered him. "But consider letting up on this act of trespassing _just this once_ , and I promise you'll get something worth it in exchange."

Hibari tugs his arm, eyes narrowed and the set of his jaw determined, but, for all that the whip strains and keens at the power trying to tear it asunder, it holds strong. "And what exactly would be worth it?" he says, voice steely, free hand twitching in a clear desire to fling his other weapon right at Dino's face.

Such a thing doesn't get past those bright eyes, and Dino only smiles, still perfectly self assured. "Tribute," he says simply. "Given regularly. All it would take is a little whisper into their dreams, and they would start setting up shrines to leave offerings in exchange for venturing into the places you've claimed as yours. I would know, because that's exactly what's been happening with me." He tilts his head to the side, one eyebrow quirked up, still smiling. "What do you think?"

A tense moment passes between the pair of gods as Hibari goes over the proposition, weapons still raised stubbornly. When he finally lets his free arm swing down in silent agreement, Dino's relieved exhale is audible all the way to the small group spectating. "I'll accept that," Hibari says grudgingly, and watches as Dino loosens up his whip's grip to tug it back to him fully. "However, consider this the only mercy I'll offer in the future."

"Fine by me!" Dino coils up the whip so that he can hold it in one hand. The other he offers to Hibari as he strides closer, accompanying it with a wide grin.

Hibari smashes his foot into one of Dino's knees and, as the older god hits the ground cursing and hissing, bolts back into the foliage to disappear again.

"And that's why you don't get into your opponent's range," Chaos says, his many voices all dry as deserts.

Still holding onto his knee, Dino looks up at them with more than a little exasperation to match his father's tone. "I'm now _well aware_ , thanks. Ugh- little menace packs a kick..." The sound of hoofbeats draws their attention, and Luce recognizes the horse Dino first road weaving through the trees. It seems even more exasperated than its rider as it comes to a stop, lowering its head to huff into his hair. Dino pats his snout. "I'm fine, Romario, I swear..."

"You named the horse?" Skull asks in bewilderment.

"And you unleashed an aggressive little mess of a god onto the world without thinking about it," Lal Mirch shoots out, her tenuous patience finally snapping, "so I don't think you have a leg to stand on when it comes to strange or idiotic life choices, Skull."

Dino's eyebrows slowly rise as he decides if he wants to be offended or not. "Horses are a perfectly fine life choice..." Yet Lal is done with all of them, apparently, turning on her heel and sweeping Colonello up in her wake as the pair of them take their leave. Luce watches her in amusement, shaking her head slightly, and Dino can only sigh before his gaze turns to Skull. "Anyway... Skull?"

Skull is still tugging his fingers through his hair, staring in aggravation and offense in the direction the Mirrored Pair disappeared to, but he pauses to blink curiously at the golden haired god. "Huh? What?"

"I'd like to say this as politely as possible... But, honestly, could you maybe stop making other gods for a while? Or ever?"

"Hey, I wasn't the only one, why is everyone getting on me and not Fon-!?"

"Technically, I didn't create him. I only touched him."

"You can't just leave me to-"

As so often happens when they're collected in one spot, bickering starts up, and Aria locks eyes with Dino. He's still slumped against Romario, tired even as he grins a little. Much like her, she supposes, he thrives in the presence of others no matter how disastrous their varying personalities are. Another pat to Romario, and then he's drawing himself up onto the horse's back once more with a wave to her.

What catches her attention most, however, is a lingering glance past her, Dino's brows slightly drawn together and his lips turned down in an uncertain frown. As he trots off, no doubt to his many shrines and those who pray to them, she follow where his gaze had gone... and finds herself watching Chaos, whose attention is trapped by the scene the two gods have left behind in their wake. The torn grass left scattered, branches broken along the ground, trees left with scars of the battle...

His attention leaves Yuni uneasy.


	4. Chaos

It's all too _stable_.

Dust settling after a windstorm. A still lake after rain. The quiet which overtakes a mortal settlement at night, when they've put away their tools and tucked themselves away in what scant shelter they've made.

It makes him twitch in dissatisfaction. The beginning of the world was _glorious_ , still piecing itself together and all of them a-whirl with learning what they were. He aches for those days again, when it felt as though creation and chaos and everyone else were a mix and nothing ever stopped. Nothing stops now, but it's too small, grains of sand that make only a pile and not a desert. He wants more. As he's always been, he wants more. After seeing the disaster that the two fledgling gods had wrought, even that small amount of upheaval their battle had brought about... Now, more than ever, he wants it.

While 'restraint' is never a word he's taken particular interest in ever since its inception, still he makes an attempt. Only a small tug at the frayed edges of the world, a little place that won't be noticed by anything except perhaps some of the other Arcobaleno. Yet one tug becomes another, and another, and soon the world is unraveling at just his very touch, a maelstrom of past and present and destruction, and he _smiles_. 

* * *

Creation means more than to create something out of nothing. It is more than a tree blossoming from earth. Creation, in some ways, is also change. A caterpillar to a cocoon to a butterfly. Wood into a sculpture. A living breathing being to a motionless corpse, flesh decaying and bones shining. Where one thing ends, another thing comes into existence. There is not a single aspect of this world she has bore that she does not know, even if she does not 'see' it. The void, that _absence_ of anything, is the only place her senses do not reach.

There should be no need to worry about that, not in the world she has crafted. And _yet_... There. At the very edges. Things change, and become, and are _lost_. It makes her heart hurt, a painful twist worse than anything she could imagine. Aria's fingers dig into her chest, into her heart, and Yuni's eyes are cast skyward. "Oh, my love," Luce whispers, softly and heavy with regret. 

* * *

To think that such a small spark would become something so huge and uncontrollable.

He'd felt the beginnings of it, of course. Fon always does. When the first young god to step foot onto the earth had realized his calling, he had realized that spark as clearly as lightning igniting a forest fire. Likewise does he realize the exact moment in which Chaos' nature is prodded. Yet despite that, as he watches sunlight burn far too brightly on the horizon, he doesn't think he could have predicted the extent to which it would rage.

No secret has been made of Fon's desire to poke and prod at his fellow Arcobaleno, to see the true extent of their existences and what aspects of their personality bubble to the surface when stressed to the limit. Chaos, especially, has ensnared his interest over some of the others. Yet for all his curiosity, his lust for action... He's held himself back. There are many reasons why he's done such a thing, from his interest in this new world and its inhabitants to hoping for the perfect time... But most of all, perhaps it had been simple instinct.

He's glad to have listened to it, now. The light burning away the edges of the world makes him so. 

* * *

And here he thought he'd gotten used to it.

The pain, that is. It certainly never _stops_ , after all, so what else is he supposed to do? Nothing can stop it, because it's his existence, and Skull isn't exactly sure if one of the Arcobaleno can die for all Hibari seems deadset on making an attempt. So he's gotten used to it, all of it. There are the small things, a bee's sting sending a larger creature scurrying away, and then the big things, such as that same bee wasting away from its desperate suicide attack. Then there are all the pains that mortal people experience in their lives, a stinging rejection or aching fingers from weaving, and... Well. The point is that it never ends. Skull can't say he's _happy_ about it, but fine. Fine! He's obviously the best person for the job, above Mammon or Lal Mirch and Collonello or Verde. He weathers it.

However, _nothing_ could have prepared him for the pain he experiences now, that which has made him crumple to his knees wide eyed and stomach churning. If he could heave, he would, but there is nothing in him, nothing but this _agony_ as the very world keens in pain. Trees and people and beasts too small for most to notice or care for- everything down to the core of it. He thinks he even feels _her_ , every part of her, Yuni's frightened tears and Aria's grit teeth and Luce's stoic heartbreak. This is not just him, but her, too, and of course it is. Of course it would be.

All her effort and love went into this world. Her pain is more vast and horrific than anything else.

Shaking, convulsing, he forces his hands into biting snow and focuses on _that_ hurt to push himself up to his feet. Saliva drips from his lips, freezing along his chin, but he ignores that. Everything else can be ignored, but he needs to get up. What can he do? He has no idea. Never have the Arcobaleno ever gone against each other, or interfered with their natural inclinations.

There's no other path anyway, in his mind. Her pain calls to him. 

* * *

In their lap, bubbles flutter out from the lips of a child half formed with each death that wracks the world, and Mammon watches them dispassionately.

Deep in the oceans, so far into the cracks of the world that what few creatures dwell in its depths have cast aside their eyes for little need, there is a darkness pitch enough to rival the Void. While others might fear it, Mammon finds it to be a comfortable resting spot. There's nothing to be desired here, not yet, but they are not merely desire. That is their _core_ , their reason in this reality, but they know the truth. They are different than the rest of the Arcobaleno, save perhaps she of Creation. They were the last to be pulled from the Void, and it clings to them even now. Of course, they'd never stay down here forever...

...And not only because Chaos is completely undoing the world, starting from the very top.

More bubbles. Mammon sighs, and nothing escapes from their own mouth. This sort of thing was inevitable, honestly. Ever since they all took form in this world, Chaos' inherent desire has always been present. Mammon knows this best, out of all of them. Much like the ebb and flow of the tide, so too has Chaos' interest in throwing the world off its axis and seeing his essence reign through it shifted. The only real question was when it would break through the dam of his restraint.

The sheer force of his want is... _tantalizing_. Even down here in the deep waters, its taste is fine. Frankly speak, it's tempting to simply sit and do nothing, bathing in his desire until the end of everything. But this world is still young, and there is still more possibilities, more shapes desire can take that has not yet had a chance to grow.

Reluctantly, they set down the life still forming by mortal wishes, letting it be cradled by water and darkness. It's time to address this nonsense. 

* * *

It is not easy to make one of the Arcobaleno bleed. In fact, Lal Mirch wasn't even certain they _could_ , up until not that long ago. Yet what else can describe their conditions? Sweat drips along her body and his, and cracks in her skin reveal rippling shades of blue that fade into the air, into steam. Her form is warped- to what extent, she's not sure. Yet this is a battle that's forced her to the brink on how well she can hold herself together. In fact, if not for her and Colonello's very connection to loyalty, to binding things together, then they'd be scattered back to their purest forms already. None of the other Arcobaleno could withstand something like this, for sure. To only get away with the imprint of bones pressing out against her skin and the red of her eyes leaking down and over her cheeks, along with whatever else... It's good fortune.

But it's not enough to stop what's happening before them.

To be destroyed is one thing. If it was over with, quick and the pain a burst, maybe it wouldn't be so bad. She thinks they'd still be tormented, because there's no way the undoing of bonds wouldn't grate at them, but it wouldn't be _as bad_. Yet this? This is _infuriating_ as things are torn asunder and _played with_ as before being tossed aside to disintegrate into nothing. Things that could be, mixing up with the things that are, things that were... And all of it is left adrift from the world proper, with the hole Chaos has made being the eye of it all. She'd call it a hurricane, but it's simultaneously too calm and too much of a disaster to say it is such. Hissing in a breath between grit teeth, she looks to Colonello.

Much like her, he's not in much of a state. The proportions of his arms are all wrong, and there are slits beneath his eyes that act as another pair. At least, she thinks they're another pair of eyes. Both areas have been overtaken by the blues of his irises, and every blink has them ripple. The sight has Lal Mirch bite down on her tongue until salt water fills her mouth.

They're not going to be enough.

"Colonello!" she calls, voice echoing across the canyon. Being pushed back like they have has put him on one side of the crevice and her on the other, but it doesn't matter. So entwined, they could hear each other's voices from across the world. True enough, his gaze turns to her and Lal takes in a deep breath. She hates to let these words even pass her lips, but... "We need to go!"

"What? Why!? He's still tearing everything apart!"

"He's tearing _us_ apart!" she snaps, not having the patience for this. "We need more than each other, or we're just wasting our energy!" She knows who they need to go to, and, judging by the torn expression of his face, so does he. A useless swing of his fist, the only way he can get rid of his frustration, and then he nods, reluctantly. It pains her to do so but, with his consent, she turns her back at the threads of the world coming undone behind her. Together with her partner, she heads off to gather the rest of the Arcobaleno. 

* * *

Verde snaps his tongue and glares. This is getting out of hand.

Chaos is disorder. Randomness. Unpredictability. To that end, sometimes it can work itself into such a state that things actually fall _back_ into place, and the status quo is restored. It can be unlikely, but it _can_ happen. Yet as things continue, they only worsen, and inaction isn't a choice that they can continue to make any longer. He has too many _ideas_ for the world to end now. So, fuming, he searches out his kin.

Skull is the first he finds, traveling slow and stunted, swollen and heavy, utterly full of himself and forced to pay the price. While he's never been particularly _kind_ to his fellows in any sense of the word, Verde says nothing of the other's trials. Even striding side by side with him, traversing the sky slowly back to where they once all gathered, has his hair on the back of his neck standing up painfully as though they'll be tugged straight out. Next to join their group, hand in hand, are Colonello and Lal Mirch. Her cheeks are smeared rust red, pupils pushing them out, and her partner is leaning against her shoulder for support with his own blond hair hiding any warping. The glare on her face is a challenge he doesn't care to bother with- and Fon, for once, seems inclined to agree once he joins their small ensemble. To be sure, his gaze lingers on the pair longer than on Verde or Skull, but no spark lights up. He's lost in his own thoughts, gaze dark and focused straight ahead. Last among their number to join is Mammon, appearing in the space of one second and the next, silent as mist. They say nothing, look at none of them, and only stew in their own annoyance.

Well. At least he's not the only one.

The world they have crafted passes through time in such a strange way. While it has felt like no time at all to him- and, he's sure, to the rest of the Arcobaleno- hundreds of mortal creatures have died and forests have grown larger since the time it was crafted. Yet as they all settle into the area that they first came together in... Nostalgia grips him.

The plain seems practically unchanged.

She is already waiting there for them all when their group arrives, every bit of her, but it's Aria who turns to face them with a mournful glaze over her eyes. The breath she releases is heavy but soft. "We're all together, then," she says simply. Every one of them is treated to the weight of her gaze. "Will that be enough?"

Is this a hypothetical question for her? Does she already know the answer, have a plan? Verde can't read her at all. If the others can, he doesn't have time to analyze them, because Loyalty steps forward together. "Colonello and I weren't enough on our own," she says, wiping the stains away from her cheeks and her eyes blinking into clarity. Impressive, that they're pulling themselves together so quickly. "But no one else here would be able to get so close to him without losing themselves completely."

"We're talking about you, hey," Colonello says over his shoulder to Fon, straightening up, and earns a rueful smile. Now standing more fully on his own, although his fingers stay entwined with Lal Mirch's, he looks to Aria. "Besides, he's part of everything too, right?"

"The foundation of the universe calls for his existence," Verde muses in agreement, arms crossing. "Without him, it wouldn't stay together, even less than he's making it now."

"Well," Mammon finally says, "we can't leave him be, either, or there won't be _anything_ , let alone everything. We need to take action."

Skull looks over at all of them, still curled in on himself, crumpled to one knee. "But if Lal and Colonello can't even do anything... What do we _do_?" he asks, voicing the concern that's on all their minds. Chaos is powerful, an undoer where all of them are in some way reliant on things coming together. Even Verde has to admit that this is a difficult problem to solve... And, like everyone else, his eyes go to Her for guidance.

However, Aria isn't looking at them. Neither is Luce, or Yuni. Instead, her gaze is focused solely skywards, to something none of them can see. The minutes pass, dragging on and on, until her head finally lowers and she meets their inquisitive stare with another heavy sigh. It's not surprising at all that the next words out of her mouth are, "I hadn't wanted to do this..." Yet, she continues on, looking to Verde. "There is a way, I think, that could make him take a more stable form. That way, the temptation to let loose like this... It wouldn't be a constant danger. However, that would require to keep him still, and once he realizes that we're working together to trap him... He'll likely attempt an escape. The damage will become all the greater."

Lal Mirch and Colonello look at each other. "So we can't even get close to him to hold him down, or he'll get an idea of what we're trying to do..."

A conundrum, truly... But, tapping his fingers against his arms, Verde starts to smile. "Actually, I believe we have the perfect tool at our disposal." 

* * *

A shepherd falls, feet slipping out from under him in the treacherous mud, and the herd he's been trying to guide and protect this whole time threaten to break him with their hooves. Yet, with a snap, Dino's whip wraps around his wrist and tugs him up in a way that'll later be called 'divine intervention', and the god watches as the mortal hastily continues his work in the face of the tumultuous weather. Frowning, he glances up to the sky. It's been ricocheting from one extreme to the other lately, with only a sparse few moments for everyone to catch their breaths. Snow to rain to sleet to a sun burning hot in the sky that still seems to do nothing for the precarious state of the ground. Still winds only serve to make Dino _more_ concerned. Calms like this only proceed the most vicious of circumstances; how could he trust it? So, for a while now, he's been whispering into the dreams and ears of every single person who has ever tended to his shrines. _Go. Run for safety._ It's all he can really say.

After all, he's not even sure where 'safe' is anymore.

In the end, he is his mother's child: someone who thrives in creation and guides things with a sure hand. But that doesn't erase his father's influence at all. It's still part of Dino, it _shows_ , and that part is what recognizes the taste in the air when he takes in a deep breath. Chaos... at its strongest he's ever felt since he first came into existence and all he _could_ feel was chaos and creation before the world came into focus. None of the Arcobaleno should be this strong, should they? None of them should be sending the world into such a state...

But if any of them would, he knows it's his father.

There's no time to worry about it, especially because something like that is out of is hands. Instead, he tends to the present. A mother, feet still swollen as she works while heavy with child, picks up her firstborn to balance on one hip and makes her lover hold onto what meager possessions they have wrapped up. Dino is right behind her, his hands at her elbows, lending strength to her as she moves determinedly to save what she has. A trio of siblings run around helping whoever they can, so he presses his hands to their backs, urging them onwards. When the whole settlement is finally on the move, everything too big or heavy to carry left abandoned, he lets out a breath. He's not done yet.

Heavy hoofbeats announce Romario's presence as he comes up from the plains, snort hot enough to form fog in the air. "It's not stopping anytime soon, Dino," the horse tells him as he climbs onto his back. "We've guided every mortal settlement away from immediate danger, but I'm not sure how much good that will do us in the end."

"Well we can't do much else," he responds from between grit teeth, nudging his steed and partner forward. Romario shoots off like the wind. "Damage control is the best I can do for those who have worked so hard for me."

Before them, lightning suddenly strikes in the plains, and Romario rears back in alarm. Digging his fingers into that mane, Dino can't see anything until all four hooves hit the ground again, and he's staring into piercing green eyes. Patting Romario's neck, he raises his eyebrows. "I kind of thought you'd have more important things to do than pay a family visit," Dino says, incredulous and holding back his impatient desire for answers.

"Of course I wouldn't bother with such trivialities." Verde waves away the statement. "But you're necessary for a strategy, so leave these floundering things to their own devices and come with me immediately."

Such dismissal of his followers, his _domain_ , tugs at the strings of his patience, but Dino holds himself back. Instead, leaning against the back of Romario's neck, he stares straight at Verde. "Does this have anything to do with what Chaos is doing?" he asks simply.

If there's one good thing about having to deal with Verde over any of the other Arcobaleno, it's that he doesn't waste any time with his words. There's a scoff, annoyance at time wasted more likely, but he's to the point. "Yes." No details, no more information than that, but... Dino closes his eyes shut as his fingers curl tightly against Romario's mane.

Maybe he doesn't really need to know more than that to understand the gravity of it.

"What do you need of me?" he asks, straightening up on his steed's back, and some of Verde's annoyance eases up in place of satisfaction.

"Just make your way to the place your parents first showed you off at. I'll meet you there." Another snap of lightning, the rumble of thunder simultaneous with its flash, and Verde is gone once again with the only trace of his presence being the light which buzzes through the clouds overhead. Dino doesn't bother to stare at it for long, or see where it goes. Instead, he pats the side of Romario's neck again. His partner is clearly on edge, powerful muscles tense beneath Dino's legs, and he doesn't need to speak for Dino to understand what's going through his mind.

"What can you do against something as powerful as your own father?"

"Who knows." Nudging him along, Dino holds himself close against Romario's back as the burst off fast as light, wind whipping through their hair. "But we can't let this continue. This is the only choice I have." His hand presses down firmly. "I know this isn't what you agreed to when I first approached you... You can make a run for it if you want, and stay somewhere safer. I won't force you into anything at all."

Romario's snort makes him shake somewhere from his spot on the horse's back. "I thought we had already agreed that there's nowhere else to run _to_? The mortal humans call you Light and Labor, and that is the name I have pledged myself to. Whatever happens, you won't find me running from it so easily. You don't have to offer an escape for me- I'd buck you off my back if I had any problems with this."

Ducking his head, Dino grins to himself- rueful and grateful all at once. "I have quite a partner at my side," he say quietly.

Only a few seconds after he says that, maybe less, and Romario slows to a trot as they arrive at the silent plains of the Arcobaleno. It's a scene all too familiar to Dino, one that reminds him just how _young_ and inexperienced he is, how small. To be among all of their number, a streak of color laid across the sky announcing the gathering, is to feel... overwhelmed. Dino has seen mortals quake when in the dark of Kyoya's domain, surrounded by tall foreboding trees and things unknown in thick shadows, and he understands them well when he thinks of being surrounded by the Arcobaleno like this.

Leaving Romario behind is out of the question, not when he's already made such a pledge to him, so Dino merely dismounts and keeps his hand to his partner's neck as he looks around. Few actually meet his eyes. Skull is crumpled into himself, hissing quietly, and Fon's eyes are focused straight towards the burning sun. A glance to Mammon shows they aren't even looking at anyone else at all, instead choosing to glower at nothing in particular. Lal Mirch and Colonello size him up silently, judging, and it's only Luce who meets his eyes with a tired smile.

"A perfect speed," Verde announces before Luce can voice whatever heaviness is in her eyes. "And that was without him pushing himself to any substantial degree. It's decided, there's no other candidate that will be able to perform in the same way."

"Perform what?" he has to ask, raising an eyebrow. Verde starts to open his mouth again, but Luce raises a hand, and he falls silent.

"Chaos needs to be stopped," Yuni says quietly, firmly. "If we want this world to last, that is the only option. However, none of us can get close to him. It's... our nature. These forms are not how we truly are. To look like this is simply how we interact with the world instead of only being a part of it, yet in the gentlest way possible." Aria smiles wryly. "Pure creation or anything else touching this world would be reckless, and disrupt so much. Chaos' actions _show_ this. However... His nature calls to all of ours. We're all part of one another in the end, Dino, and his part can undo us from the inside out."

That's reassuring to hear.

"So... Can we do nothing?" he asks incredulously, hand sweeping out.

" _We_ can't do anything," Verde corrects him. " _You_ , on the other hand, are a different matter entirely."

"What?"

Electricity crackles excitedly behind Verde's eyes, and he steps forward, hands moving animatedly through the air. "While you _were_ created by both Chaos and Creation, you never had a 'true form', so to speak. The form you have now is the form you have _always_ had, and you are your own unique entity separate from the Arcobaleno. He can't undo _you_ because that is not how it works."

"...I mean, he could still kill me, right?"

Verde pauses, blinking at him for a second. "Oh, well, yes, of course, but that is an entirely _different_ thing." Before Dino can open his mouth to voice any protests or, at the very least, _concerns_ , Verde waves him off. "Anyway, the other reason you are a prime candidate is the speed you are capable of. I noticed it when you first found your purpose in this world, your ability to move fast as light when you decide to be. Being approached by anyone willingly will no doubt make Chaos suspicious, which may make him run, which will _certainly_ cause more damage. We need someone who can keep up with him and catch him before that kind of thing happens."

Catch him... Huh? Dino would ask how, but he doesn't need to. Wordlessly, he glances down at the whip he has tied around his waist with a pale tan cloth and touches it lightly. When he had created it, it hadn't been from nothing. He isn't his mother, he doesn't have that much power. His only tool had been himself, and the materials... Those had been the words sent to every shrine dedicated to him, every little offering, every head bowed in reverence and hope to him. Even now, he can feel the people's frantic prayers thrumming through the length of him.

Will that be enough? Will all the prayers and belief and hope he's reliant on be enough to catch and stop the very essence of Chaos? At his back, Romario huffs in concern, breath gusting over his shoulder. It's a risk he's never taken, never even tried to take unlike the vicious little god that is Kyoya Hibari. Yet there's no way to know for certain. Not until he does it.

Taking a long steadying breath, he looks up. "What next, after I catch him?" As though it's a guarantee, a certainty.

"That's where we step in," Lal Mirch says, sharing a look with Colonello. "We still need a little while longer to make sure we're completely together... But the sooner you can catch up to him, the better. Mammon will be there as backup, if that's any reassurance at all.

Dino blinks a few seconds as that knowledge sinks in. "Wait... Mammon? Really?"

"His desire is to completely tear the world apart and fling every bit of it to the metaphorical wind," they drawl. "But that's not the only thing he wants. As Desire itself, I can keep him distracted for a little bit. In fact, I'm probably the best suited for it."

"Considering the plans that have been put into place, you're the only one available for the task, actually."

"Verde, you have absolutely nothing to do after you went to get Dino, so I believe we can both agree that phrase is _false_ , and you're also full of- "

Luce interjects right around that time. "So we can rely on you, then?"

"Of course." He smiles wryly. "It's not like I have much of a choice then, right?" Nodding to the loyal pair, he starts to pull himself back onto Romario as Mammon disappears in a twist of mist and shadow. "I'll leave now. It's like you said- the sooner the better. I have people to look after." And not only because he has to take care of them...

There's no point in waiting for any other response. In sync with him, Romario takes off, a shooting star across the earth, and Dino steels himself. It was his own choice, but Romario's speed means he doesn't have much time to prepare himself for what's coming. One breath, two, thre-

Romario skids to a stop, hooves leaving long drags in the earth, and Dino finds his breath stolen away as he looks at the monstrous sight before him.

Describing it all is _impossible_ , undoable, and yet the order of Dino's mind still makes an attempt anyway. It tries to follow the rapidly shifting shapes, that which is carried away in the gravity defying whirlwind of action and that which is changed completely and utterly, the pandemonium of colors... Futilely, he latches onto the predominance of shimmering and golden yellow that flickers through, but honestly... He knows even that could possibly just be a result of chaos as well instead of anything consistent. So stunned, he nearly misses the sight of a large chunk of rock twisting through the air, and it's only Romario's quick actions which save them both. Yelping at the sudden leap and jumps, he scrambles to keep a steady hold on the horse.

"Dino!" Leaping into a chunk of earth that seems the most steady, Romario tosses his mane back. "Don't lose focus!"

"Right, right..." Sweeping his hair back, Dino grits his jaw and looks out into the tempest. Focus... His eyes search through it all, trying to find the part of Chaos he knows must be the center. Everything else is superfluous, an extension of his power, but he needs to find the part he can _anchor_. Quickly, however, he realizes something. "Romario, keep going! We need to go deeper!"

The horse jerks his head to glance back at him. "Are you sure?"

No, he really isn't. It's dangerous, to get so close to Chaos' true essence. Even with what Verde says, who knows what might happen? Not to mention, the further he gets into the storm... There's no guarantee he'll reach a calm eye. In fact, it might just get worse. But there's nothing for it. Nodding, he spurs Romario onwards. "We have to keep going or else we'll never be able to do what we need to!"

With a snort, Romario goes all the faster, and Dino clings close to his back to avoid every animal corpse and log that goes twisting through the air- sometimes those two things being one and the same, although he doesn't let his mind stay for too long on such matters. All he thinks about is what's ahead of them; Romario can guide them through the worst of it all. Soon, the air itself changes, thick as fog and burning his eyes, all sorts of different colors and sensations going through it, but it doesn't matter.

There's a miniature sun shining up ahead.

Perhaps there's more to it than that, some shape he can't see- because he _can't_ see, the light blinding him, and Dino has to duck his head for his eyesight to recover. His hands go to the whip at his side, not needing sight for that at least, and he lets it unfurl in his hand while Romario runs circles around Chaos' core. They're being lashed out at, Dino thinks, but it's hard to tell. So much light, so much turmoil, he can't tell anything apart or what things might just barely be missing him and Romario.

Well, Chaos can do that all he wants. Dino won't stop.

A snap of his whip, and it snaps around something- no, not what he wants, the weight is of a piece of rock, and Dino tugs his arm to send it flying elsewhere and out of his way. Another snap, and it goes through something... Was that a tree? Gritting his teeth, he tries again and again, exchanging blows with his father, and he's wondering if his arm will fall off before he'll get his mark-

His whip, the extension of himself, goes _through_ something, and then wraps around it tight, and that's when he knows he's done it. He's caught Chaos. Digging his heels into Romario, getting him to stop, Dino wraps his other hand tight around the handle of his whip. It is not in Chaos' nature to be tamed, to be restrained in one place. Yet it's for the better. Beneath his body, Romario strains and digs his hooves into what is left of the earth beneath them both. A young god and the spirit of horses- is it enough? He has no idea.

All he knows is that he has to try, even if it feels like Chaos will tear his arms out of his sockets.

For- a few minutes, hours, eternity, he and Romario struggle to keep Chaos in his place, for all that it is impossible to tell if they are doing so or merely being dragged along as Dino's father fights against his bonds. Eventually, however... The whip starts to go slack in Dino's hand, and he squints into the burning sun. "Chaos...?"

Something in the light flicks, like a fish just barely seen in the depths of water with shimmering scales. No size, no shape, just a glimpse of _something_... and it makes him uneasy. "Dino," Chaos says, an echo, a reverberation, a chorus all calling to him at once. Chaos' voice has always been like that, a mangled mix of a thousand voices instead of a singular one, but it's only now that Dino feels the hair stand up on the back of his neck from it. "My Dino..."

The possessive doesn't exactly fill him with confidence.

Swallowing, he sits tall. He is Light and Labor; he can withstand the light no matter how hard it burns and blinds him. Words won't work, he thinks, but if it will buy the world even a little bit of time... "You have to stop this, Chaos. The world won't last if you keep going."

There's a hum, something that makes his teeth ache. "My Dino... I remember when you were a spark at the tail end of my and Luce's essences..." Around them, the air ripples, and, deep in his chest, Dino can feel his heart start to go cold. "Do you?"

It takes a moment for him to get words through his throat. "I remember."

Reality jerks, _cracks_ , distorts and opens into _everything_ and _nothing_ , and Dino realizes just what he's looking into:

Chaos' gaping maw.

"Come back to it, Dino."

He can't move. Can barely breathe. Beneath him, Romario can't either, even though he can feel him trembling and quaking hard. In the overwhelming face of pure and utter _Chaos_ , he's unable to do anything at all. A god truly isn't a match for any one of the Arcobaleno; Kyoya had been reckless to try all those days and months ago. And now-

"How troublesome you are, really."

The sun's light lessens- no, it's being _blocked_. Mist and fog curl through the air, thick and impenetrable, blocking the all powerful burning light. Dino blinks a few times, stars still popping behind his eyelids. Around him, he can see everything so much clearer now: the debris that's strewn around him, the gashes in earth and solid stone that Chaos had left behind when he'd been lashing out. Anything too far off, however... He can't make out. Fog obscures everything, fills up his entire world now instead of sunlight.

Well. It obscures everything except one person.

Despite their shock of purple hair and the loose dark garment they keep draped over their petite frame, Mammon still somehow seems as part of the mist as anything else. As though their cloak is simply a thicker patch of it instead of clothing, and their hair a trick of the light. With their back to him, it's impossible to see their face, but Dino can hear the exasperated amusement in their voice. "Your little bender here is distracting me from a fascinating development that's coming about, you know. Couldn't you at least wait for a century before starting an event like this?"

Even with all the mist blocking the light, Dino can still feel the ripple of Chaos' aggravation that sends goosebumps popping up along his arms. Beneath Romario's hooves, small stones rattle and leap up. "Out of my way, Desire."

Around him, Dino can feel the air get thicker, and every breath he takes is more mist than air. Mammon laughs, quietly. "So you can do what?" Their frame is shimmering, multicolor lights flickering in the blackness for their form, their hair shifting and shimmering. "Is devouring your son really what you've decided you want, on a whim?" Their form disappears, mist tugged every which way by a breeze, but Dino can still hear their voice. "Or is what you want something else entirely...?" A purr hums through the mist. "Tell me, Chaos. Tell me about everything."

This time, when the light eases up, it's for real and not simply because it's blocked out, and Dino finds himself able to breathe without that unimaginable pressure weighing down on him. Trembling, he pats Romario's neck- they're alright. He almost forgot, but they had backup this whole time. He can only be grateful that Mammon stepped in when they did. Now there's only one question: should he stay in case they need him again, or run while he still has the opportunity?

Romario has his own thoughts about it. "Dino... It's dangerous."

"I know, but-" Dino yelps as something suddenly jabs him in the side, and he twists around. Right there is Lal Mirch, her burning red eyes not focused on him but whatever scene she can feel past the mist. It's only then that Dino realizes how a faint wetness has spread over his kin. Mist, or a soft rain?

"You should get some distance between yourself and this," Lal Mirch says simply, voice low. "Your parents dancing made you- I have no idea what us fighting will cause."

"What about you?"

Jaw clenching, Lal Mirch starts to stride around him and towards where Mammon is surely distracting Chaos. Hard to tell with all the mist. "We'll have things covered." And she disappears.

Best to do what she says- Dino knows Lal wouldn't tell him that if she didn't think she had reason to. She's a no-nonsense kind of person. So he lets Romario carry them away, gritting his teeth as he tries to find a safe space in all the mist. He's barely made it that far at all- maybe a mile, before he hears something go flying through the air. Dino twists around just barely in time to catch the tiny little figure that's aimed at him, and he squawks in alarm. "Mammon!"

Their form is still adjusting itself, particles of mist arranging itself into skin and hair and clothing, but that doesn't seem to bother the Arcobaleno at all as they have and straighten up. "She didn't have to pull that hard!"

"What- what happened!?"

Dusting themself off, Mammon huffs. "I was distracting Chaos, like I said I would. I just... might have gotten a little too into it."

Suddenly, Dino has absolutely no desire to learn anything else about what happened. He abruptly shifts the subject. "Did Lal Mirch go against him all by herself?"

"Huh? Oh-" Mammon waves him off. "Don't worry. Of course Colonello was there too."

Before he can ask more questions, an enormous _boom_ shakes through the air, nearly rattles his teeth right of his mouth, and the mist surrounding them is blown straight away. Raising a hand to shield himself from any debris scattering through the air, he squints past his fingers. Off in the distance, he can see a swarm of light and chaotic mess all gathered into one, squeezed down towards the earth in a funnel, a tornado. Holding it tight and narrow, at the very bottom, he can very faintly make out two different figures keeping it squeezed and held together. Occasionally, between them, the maelstrom jerks and flickers, is almost a _person_ for half of a second... And then the coherence disappears.

Somehow, watching it almost feels unnatural, a sight he isn't privileged to witness, and the knowledge of what he's looking at makes an icy feeling drop down into the pit of the gut. Beneath him, Romario trots and whinnies anxiously. And Mammon?

Mammon simply settles themself, watching intently. "Now we only have to wait for the others." 

* * *

In the distance, something booms, and Skull swallows thickly. Here, they are at the highest point of the world together, where pure white snow burns a bright shade in contrast against the empty black sky, and the chill would kill a mortal dressed in the way the Arcobaleno are dressed. However, what makes him feel cold and drops a pit of ice into the core of him isn't the air or the snow. It's the knowledge that they are on the verge of doing something... more than he can comprehend. Something bleak and piercing, a last resort that he knows hasn't been chosen lightly.

And yet, darker than that, is what lays behind that burning bright light of Chaos.

Not too far from his side stands Fon, and he's not sure if the lack of casual ease on the other man's face makes him feel reassured or not. Both of them stand in the snow, slightly beneath Aria as she takes her position at the very tip. At this height, the wind should be vicious, snapping to and fro... But everything around them is still. Aria is still. Whatever goes through her head is a mystery, but Skull isn't asking for the answers to that.

All he asks is, "Aria? Are you alright?"

Shaking her head away from the sight of what's above her, Aria glances back to him with a weary smile. "I'm just tired, Skull," she says. "All of me is. Don't worry. We'll settle everything soon enough." Her gaze slides away from him, then, and she extends one hand. "Fon."

Sliding his hands out from his sleeves, Fon steps forward and places his hand in hers. "You need me despite all you've done?" he asks, smiling slightly. It doesn't reach his eyes. Aria smiles back, and hers does.

"I especially need you," she says, and looks back up to the dark sky and all the colors which swim in it.

From the standpoint of the world, Skull knows that the Void is so far away from the earth of the world, even from its highest point. Not even birds or other winged things can touch it, not really. However, with her free hand, Aria reaches up, and her fingers brush against the Void so easily. It ripples at her touch, a pebble dripping into a pond, and she smiles sadly. Regretfully, maybe. However, no amount of regret stops her from what she does next. Her touch sinks further in, and something about the sight is just- _wrong_. It's wrong all the way down to the core, as she twists her fingers in, _pulls_ , and it's pure absolute black that she tugs out from the sky. Such a deep black that it doesn't seem real, as if it's more a hole in the universe than an actual shade or lack thereof. Something in the fabric of the world _keens_ as Aria pulls on it, and Skull has to grind his hands against his ears just to alleviate the pain he can hear humming somewhere distant.

So lost within his own existence, he almost doesn't realize Fon has stepped up besides her until he has. Blinking away tears, he watches as the other man reaches up as well. Around them, once still air billows violently about them, tossing his long braid about, flinging snow about recklessly, but Fon ignores it. Is part of it, perhaps. Either way, it doesn't really matter. Nothing stops Fon's fingers from lightly setting upon the stretch of blackness in Aria's hands...

The faint keening in Skull's head stops, sharply, abruptly.

In its place is a soft ache, and in Aria's hand are folds and folds of void. She gathers it gently in her arms as Fon steps away. It's a success, right? Yet her expression is as heavy as it ever was. For a long moment, there's nothing but silence and the weight of what's been done as the snow continues to flurry around them. At last, she sighs.

"There's no more time to waste," Luce says. "Let's go." 

* * *

Where his arms are wrapped around Chaos, the skin has gone translucent, see through, revealing deep blue trickling through his veins and all the rivers of the world laced throughout his person. Before him, on the other side, Lal's fingers are wrapped tight around what might be a throat and her legs are locked down below. Her nails shimmer, light refracting off of water, and her bared teeth have gone shark-jagged. He thinks he can see into the ocean's depths through her hair, feel its spray against his face as it's whipped back and forth violently in the maelstrom they're in. Perhaps its the same for her, when she looks at him and sees waterfalls where his irises should be. This is close, the closest they've ever come to unraveling, _but they can't let go_.

Not yet. Not until the others get here.

"Lal!" In their grip, Chaos is yelling, screaming, _cursing_ them, the words warbled and such a violent mess that Colonello can only understand him on the most primordial level. "How are you holding up!?"

" _Holding_!" she grits out, nails digging in harder against their kin and current foe. That's the most that can be asked for, that they're holding together against it all, and he digs his essence harder in place. A little while longer, just a little longer, and the others will be there soon. It's what he tells himself, over and over again, as the pair of them hold tight all of Chaos in place. With how his body is dissolving, falling apart in flakes and droplets, he nearly misses how Chaos is bubbling beneath his touch, star hot and not stopping any time soon. His light is reflected in Lal Mirch's eyes as she stares at him, her face twisted in a grimace, jaw set, and Colonello realizes what Chaos is about to do just a second too late. Even as he shouts, tries to jerk a hand upwards, fire suddenly bursts out and, for a heart-stopping second, he can't see what's going on at all.

When his vision clears up, his heart stops. Light- no, _flame_ , sun's harsh fire, is still burning a cruel trail across the side of Lal's face. Just like they've always been, they're a mirror of each other in that moment: his wide eyes locked onto hers, her pain echoing to him. He calls out her name again, ears deaf to his own voice, as she falters for a second. All he can do is watch in horror, desperately wishing more than anything that he had been in her place, as she sways and starts to fall-

Her fingers spasm, tighten, and Lal hauls herself back up to _smash_ her head into Chaos.

The crash of Arcobaleno against Arcobaleno sends Colonello's ears ringing, sends a wave of rain cascading across the land in a heavy shower. For a full couple of seconds, he swears he can see a body in Chaos' mess of an existence- flinching and dizzy.

" _Fuck you_ ," Lal hisses, eyes glowing red hot in rage. In her breath, steam that could melt skin clear off bone comes from between her teeth. "It's one thing when you're being an idiot who's too caught up in your reckless fun, but you're going to _attack me_? That's going to be the last thing you regret, you rotten- "

Colonello realizes, suddenly and as Lal's nails dig into Chaos' throat, that his other half might kill Chaos before the rest of the Arcobaleno can arrive.

"Lal, calm down, hey- "

"Don't tell me to _calm down_ , I'm going to tear him apart until Luce will have to gather his remains in a snail shell- "

"Everyone else needs to get here first!"

"I don't need an audience to murder him, Colonello!"

"That's not what I'm talking about, hey!"

The sky calms.

Immediately, the pair of them cease their bickering, and even Chaos' raging falters. Around them, no more sunlight bleaches the earth dry. No more rain threatens to flood the earth. Off in the distance, Colonello's sharp eyes pick up Dino still atop his horse and Mammon perched right behind him. Even Verde is by the small group, watching carefully. Colonello meets both his fellow Arcobaleno's gazes, but only for a split moment. Soon, he looks to the ones who have arrived some distance behind Lal Mirch's back. Flanked by Fon and Skull, Yuni looks even tinier than she normally seems. Responsibility weighs down on her, wide blue eyes full of regret and exhaustion. In her arms, obscuring most of her torso from view, is- _something_ , fabric he realizes after a moment, only it's darker than shadows or the night sky or the very deepest depths of the ocean. It doesn't seem _real_. Yet it is, and Yuni holds it close to her chest. The very sight of it makes Chaos go stiff, bristling with a hundred spines pressing into Colonello's arms.

"Yuni," he says, the chorus of voices coming together in unison and wrought tight.

Her eyes fall shut, as if looking at him is too much a burden for her, and the sound of her sigh makes Colonello want to fall to his knees. Across from him, the quiet tremor of Lal's brow says that she feels the same. "You knew there would have to be consequences," Yuni says, quietly. "You've had all this time to look at what you've wrought and stop yourself. Since you haven't... It's up to us." Opening her eyes again, she looks to him with all the force of the world in that blue stare. "I'm sorry."

She takes one step close, and then another, and the pair of them, Colonello and Lal, have to tighten their grip on Chaos as he thrashes and burns. Once close enough, Yuni turns to Skull. Throughout all of this, she has bore the scene with a quiet if resigned gracefulness. Skull, on the other hand, looks like he's going to piss straight to the floor and is barely keeping it and his fear in. When Yuni hands him the layers and layers of pure black, he holds it as far away from him as he possibly can.

But then, perhaps Colonello is being too hard on him. Now more than ever, he understands what Luce had meant all that time ago when she had been explaining their reasons for existing. No one would ever be alone in their pain... And as Skull tentatively steps closer, somehow, it almost feels as though some of the burden bearing down on Colonello is easing up a little bit.

Just a little bit.

Skull comes to a stop in front of them, the shifting of his hands hidden in the blackness. Exchanging a glance, Colonello and Lal nod to each other. That's all they need. When Skull jerks out the void fabric, pure black cutting through the air, they let go simultaneously and dodge out of the way as to not get caught in its embrace. Chaos isn't so quick. Oh, he _tries_ , form warping and shifting now that they've let go, but he's not fast enough. The void practically _devours_ him- cuts something so enormous and all-expansive into a body that's bite-sized. It is not a kind process. It is not a harmless one. Even as Colonello scrambles around to grab Lal Mirch, it's with his hands slammed over his ears as Chaos _screams_.

It's the worst sound in the world. In all of reality. He screams and screams and _screams_ , a sound so horrific that it stops being a sound at some point. It's a sensation, one that threatens to unravel him straight through the core as he drops to his knee by Lal's side. How she stays together so well in the face of it, he has no idea. All he focuses on is helping her to her feet while she glares ice in their trapped companion's direction.

And then it stops.

Tentatively, not sure if he wants to see what has happened, Colonello looks up again. Fon is besides Skull now. It's impossible to see his expression from where Colonello stands, but his hands are visible. They've curled into the darkness- have locked it tight in place, Colonello realizes. For such a painful act, only Skull would be fit for the job... but the act of changing something? Of course.

This is why Fon was brought along when they retrieved that. To finish the job.

As both Arcobaleno step away from what they've done, the sound of hooves gets closer and closer. In the gravity of such a situation, it's still hilarious to see Dino riding over with Verde holding on tight behind him and Mammon perched daintily on the young god's shoulders. If not for the fact that he's completely drained of all energy, him and Lal Mirch only barely still people, Colonello would probably laugh. What's not a laughing matter is the concern spread all across Dino's face as he stares at his father.

Verde, in contrast, only seems smug, and slides off of the steed. "So it worked as I thought it would," he announces simply.

"As you _hoped_ it would," Mammon corrects him, floating down serenely. They seem more solid now, a lot better than when Lal had pulled them away from Chaos and their body had left a streak of color through the air. At least _someone_ is recuperating from this whole mess well enough; Colonello lightly touches the edges of skin that's been warped and burnt.

There will be no healing this, he thinks, heart clogging up his throat. Yet even as he touches her, Lal reaches up to grip his hand and her eyes still burn bright as she looks at him. "I'm fine," she says, voice as clear as rain and stronger than the ocean, and something settles in him.

"Who was worried about you anyway?" he says, trying to grin even as he lies, and he only gets a jab straight to his ribcage.

There's no time for them to just play around, however. Dino steps closer to them, even though it must be putting him on edge, and he's still so focused on what's before him. Together with Lal, Colonello turns his attention back to what was once the center of the storm. Skull and Fon have stepped further back, both of them wary, but the cloth of dark void stays right where it is. Now that everything has calmed down, staring at it has Colonello bristle. It's something that... doesn't _belong_ , not here, on earth. All he can think about when he looks at it is suffocation, restriction...

Luce has no qualms as she steps forward, closer to him, and she kneels down alongside their restrained kin. He's truly different, now- pale skin drawn tight over his frame with no color to fill it, hair and eyes reflecting the black that's holding him tight. Panting, chest heaving and sweat dripping down the curve of his face, all he does is watch helplessly as Luce reaches towards him.

"One day you'll be allowed to do as you please," she says softly, her fingers curving around his jaw and her palm cradling his cheek. "You can tear this world asunder, and lay it to rest. But _not now_." Sighing, a tired and sweet smile curves along her lips, and he leans into the gentle stroke of her fingers with his own eyes barely held open. "So much can happen, _must_ happen, before then. So restrain yourself, my love, and reign in smaller ways."

Leaning close, she kisses his forehead.

"Be Reborn."

He crumples into her arms, then, too tired and worn down to stay upright. The muffled sound he makes is impossible to discern, but the feeling is one of agreement, and Luce strokes his hair gently. Finally, with that done, she looks to the rest of them. Colonello has never been much good at discerning what messages lay in the eyes of creation, but it's sympathetic, surely, he thinks. "Lal Mirch," she says, "how are you feeling?"

"When we're both recovered, I'm going to beat him so bad he'll _forget_ what he is."

Luce's smile is on the verge of letting loose a laugh. "I see." Her gaze turns to the others. "And the rest of you as well?"

"Pass on the fighting," Mammon says, and narrows their shimmering eyes at Fon until they settle into a distinct ruby red. "But I'm fine enough."

"You're welcome."

"Thanks, Lal Mirch."

"I'm great!" Skull announces, way too loud and way too proud for someone who looked like his own heart had been a split second away from bursting out of his chest not that long ago. "That wasn't too hard, right? We did _great_. Especially me."

Before Colonello can get up to remind him who really did most of the work, someone steps forward. Dino's expression is still warped and twisted with concern, eyes having not left his father for a moment. "Will _he_ be alright?" he asks, quiet. "What do we do now?"

Luce's gaze drifts back down to Reborn as her hand strokes down from his hair to settle along his back. "He'll be fine, in time. For now, however... He simply needs a place to rest for a while. Somewhere... stable."

Colonello looks around at the debris scattered violently about them, at the gouges in the earth and uprooted trees and things growing where they simply shouldn't be. "I don't think we have a lot of options," he says bluntly.

"More than you think, actually," Fon murmurs, a smile playing on his face. "The universe provides, it seems."

Carefully, Luce pulls herself up to her feet, Reborn hanging limply from around her shoulders. It's hard to tell if he's conscious or not. "What Fon means," she says patiently so that no one tries to give the guy what he wants by starting a fight, "is that taking a piece of the Void made some... changes." Her eyes flick upwards. "There are places that are our own now... Realms we can make from our essence, places to rest and dwell."

"He merely needs to be taken to his," Fon adds, genuinely helpful for once.

Around them, a sense of trepidation ripples through them. Even the ones who haven't taken as much damage aren't certain if they should take the risk in guiding Reborn anywhere. The cloth holds him, for now, but what if something happens? Chaos by its very nature throws the future into disarray. Before any of them can say anything, a figure steps forward.

"I'll do it," Dino says, and smiles to his steed with a steady pat to his side. Only after reassuring the horse does he step closer, leaning closer to his parents. "Can you hear me, old timer?"

A hand bats out in response, but it's hard to say if it's truly to the words or not. Either way, it doesn't matter. There's no strength behind it, no will, and Dino catches it carefully in his hand. Gently, he takes on Reborn's weight from Luce and begins to step away. His steed steps closer, huffing from its nose in dissatisfaction, but Dino shakes his head.

Well, perhaps he won't accept the horse's help, but someone else has different ideas. Before he can stop her, Lal Mirch pulls away from Colonello's grasp. "We'll go with you," she says, maybe a little to Colonello's despair. Anyone who looks like they're going to say anything is subjected to a piercing glare. "If anything happens, we're the best suited for damage control, and we know how to traverse the areas outside the earth being what we are. We're going." That last one is directed to Colonello in particular, her jaw set, and he can tell that there's no changing her mind.

"You need to stop being so stubborn, hey," he tells her, but doesn't stop his partner as the pair of them stride over to where Dino is holding Reborn up. She's still weak, the burns still a swollen mess along her shoulder and throat and cheek, and yet none of that stops her from standing tall on one side of Dino's. Colonello takes the other side, letting his hand rest on Reborn's back. Together, they go.

There is no other word for it. They simply _go_ , shifting from the warped and twisted plateau where Reborn had fought against them to the shifting ethereal areas that are both the sky and the core of the world and everything. Being what they are, all of the Arcobaleno have passed through it, natural as fish to water, birds to air, in their ventures from one place to another. They are it, in a way. _Dino_ , on the other hand, seems almost disoriented as he tries to find his footing (of which there is none) and his fingers grip tighter to Reborn.

"Whoa-" Quickly enough, he adjusts, looking around. "Then... where do we start?" Before Colonello and Lal Mirch can answer him, he looks down to Reborn and gently shakes his shoulders. "Reborn, wake up. Where do we need to take you?"

Nearly dead from exhaustion, slumping completely against his son's shoulder, Reborn doesn't look as if he's in the position to do any guiding. Yet, to Colonello's surprise, his free arm raises up, one finger barely able to hold itself up straight from his limp hand. In the twisting wash of everything that is this space, something rumbles through the air. Things warp and change, as unpredictable a maelstrom as that which they'd only recently put a stop to. Yet as it all pulls together, it solidifies, becomes solid and smooth- cool and pitch black obsidian from the eruption of chaos. Nothing is completely level or settled just yet, mind. Stalagmites and stalactites form unevenly, along with small hollows in the walls that seem large enough for people to curl into. Polished and rough simultaneously... As the walls form around them, hiding the scattered realms of existence from immediate view, Colonello has to admit that it suits the occasion. From Dino's other side, he sees Lal Mirch ease up a little.

Yeah. He'd though a turn for the worst might happen for a second there too.

With a solid floor under his feet, Dino begins to move forward towards the end of the long dark room. "I think we'll be fine now," he says, faking confidence pretty well. Settling down on the ground, he checks to make sure that Reborn is doing well enough before looking up to Colonello and Lal Mirch. His smile is a little tired, but still somehow bright. "Although I'll be the first to make a run for it and tell you all if anything does happen."

"You're sure?" Colonello asks, even with one eye on Lal Mirch. Her own have drifted shut, and her scars still stand out burning and raw against her skin. "Things could still go badly, hey."

"If it happens, it happens." Dino's smile grows stronger. "I'm sure we'll handle it."

Well if he says so, then he says so. Colonello edges over to Lal, not wanting to waste much more time when he doesn't have to. "We'll leave it to you," he tells the young god, and, with that, takes his leave. Out and away from the little domain Reborn has carved for himself, the pair curl into each other, and he takes on her weight as best he can. He can feel a part of reality calling their names, too, although not quite literally. Rain, and ocean, and gray clouds smeared across the sky which block out all light... He'll take her there, and the waters will help soothe her ache.

It's the most he can do. 

* * *

"They always have so many questions," Verde says, although the words are not in any way judgmental. In fact, he's delighted. Mortal humans always come to such interesting conclusions, not even speaking of the actions they take. From around the small little shrine of stone at the base of the mountain, barely able to be a shelter to the people hiding there, Mammon settles against the statue that's been made in reverence to the gods. It's barely bigger than them. "Do you think they'll come even close to the truth?"

Soft and insubstantial next to something of stone, yet no doubt able to last longer, Mammon rolls their head to the side. "Who knows," they drawl. "They know of Dino, for certain, but we might still be a mystery to them. They're a young race, after all."

"That's true, although..." Trailing off, he watches as distaste spasms across their face, green eyes flickering to vibrant red, and he doesn't even have to look to the side to see who has joined them. "Ah. Fon. I didn't think you would have an interest in this sort of thing." Curious, Verde quirks up an eyebrow. "What brings _you_ here?"

Smiling as if Mammon isn't trying to gouge out his throat with their gaze alone, Fon nods to the small gathering on their knees before the shrine. "I was curious, much as you two are, I'm sure. Is that such a crime?"

"You're never just curious," Mammon grumbles, watching with clear suspicion as Fon ventures closer to crouch by the woman up front. Verde recognizes her from a night that only seems like a few days ago, the memory accompanied by the night's chill and horses snorting. Older, now, much older than she already was, but it's her. "You have an _agenda_. The only question is what it is."

"So suspicious." For all he says that, he doesn't stop smiling, even as he leans close to the mortal woman. In the silence of the shrine, made heavy by the quiet prayers of mortal souls, his whispers are easily heard by the two other Arcobaleno as they echo against the walls. " _Before light, and earth, and life, there was Void._ "

Mammon straightens up abruptly. "What are you doing?"

"Then, from the void, came forth Creation: the Matriarch, ruler and leader and founder-"

"Are you _telling_ them-"

"-the Mother, keeper and caretaker-"

" _I_ wanted to!" they hiss, a fact which likely wasn't true until the moment Fon began to do it.

Laughter starts to creep into his voice. "-the Maiden, daughter eternal."

"Fon!"

Crossing his arms, Verde makes a face as he turns away. Honestly, Fon's idea of getting Mammon's attention is on par with pre-adolescent children's. Best to leave before it gets any worse.


End file.
